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State police agent forged CI payment receipt

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The Virginia State Police agent who allegedly paid an informant to testify in a Roanoke County court case earlier this year is now being investigated for forgery.

Aaron Houchens, a Roanoke-area criminal defense attorney, alleges in a brief filed Tuesday in Roanoke County District Court that the agent forged a document related to payments to informant Lane Franklin Thomas.

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Lane Franklin Thomas' informant agreement with Virginia State Police 11.1.2022

Part of a Virginia State Police document – a signed “Cooperating Individual Agreement” prepared by the agency in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from an attorney – identifies Lane Franklin Thomas as a confidential informant working with Special Agent Stephen “Steve” Richardson to investigate a shooting.


Virginia State Police


Thomas testified during a jury trial for the Commonwealth of Tyler Keith Jones, 30, of Martinsburg, West Virginia. Jones was found guilty in March on four counts related to a shooting on Interstate 81 in September 2022.







Tyler Keith Jones

Jones


West Virginia Regional Jail


West Virginia man found guilty in 2022 interstate shooting

But Houchens, who represents Jones, found evidence after the trial that Thomas had been paid for his stay in a local hotel room by Stephen “Steve” Richardson, a special agent with the Virginia State Police.

Houchens believed that Thomas may have been motivated to lie during his testimony and filed a motion for a retrial for Jones. The attorney also filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the state police to obtain materials on Thomas and Richardson.

Tyler Jones’ attorney, Roanoke-area criminal defense attorney Aaron Houchens, filed a motion in Roanoke County District Court on March 28 asking a judge to overturn the verdicts reached by a jury three weeks earlier.


Emma Coleman



Houchens received a partial response to his request from the state agency on April 29. In a brief filed with the court on May 2, he wrote that evidence showed that state police paid Jones $2,500 on March 7 — one day after Jones’ jury returned its verdicts.

Jones’ attorney, Roanoke-area criminal defense attorney Aaron Houchens, filed a brief on May 2 outlining his findings in Virginia State Police documents created after Houchens filed a freedom of information request with the agency.


Roanoke County District Court


Roanoke lawyer: State police agent paid confidential informant to testify

In a second brief filed Tuesday, Houchens wrote that he believed the police report about the $2,500 payment was falsified.

Jones’ attorney, Roanoke-area criminal defense attorney Aaron Houchens, filed a second brief on June 18 outlining his findings in Virginia State Police documents created after Houchens filed a freedom of information request with the agency.


Roanoke County District Court


“It is believed that Richardson forged or altered this document to include his supervisor’s signature,” Houchens wrote. “If true, Richardson may be guilty of a criminal offense.”







Virginia State Police suspect forged signature 3.7.2024

A portion of the Virginia State Police file documenting a $2,500 payment to a confidential informant, which the agency prepared in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from an attorney, contains a signature that the attorney said is a suspected forgery.


Virginia State Police


The attorney’s statement continued that the state police provided additional information in response to his May 14 FOIA request. The new material included “a previously unpublished interview between Richardson, ATF agents and Thomas.”

During this interview, Thomas and Richardson “apparently discussed exchanging money for Thomas’ cooperation,” Houchens wrote. Texts and recorded phone conversations provided by state police also show “that the relationship between Thomas and Richardson was ‘cozy.'”

Houchens said prosecutors recently announced that Richardson was being investigated for falsifying the $2,500 payment receipt. The attorney said state police have also launched an internal investigation into Richardson’s conduct.

“Per state police policy, Richardson is on leave pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation,” State Police Public Relations Director Corinne Geller said in an email Thursday.

Houchens said Jones intends to ask the court to dismiss his charges in light of the Commonwealth’s “repeated, blatant, unexplained and shocking breaches of disclosure requirements.”

But Jones’ case has stalled while Houchens waits for the Roanoke County District Attorney’s Office to produce emails between prosecutors and Richardson and additional evidence. Houchens said he has only received “verbal updates during the hearings and conferences on this matter.”

Aaron Lavinder, the assistant district attorney who has prosecuted Jones’ case so far, said Thursday he does not intend to file a written response to Houchens’ motions. Instead, he said, the outstanding issues are expected to be addressed at a hearing in the near future.

“The blatant misconduct and disclosure violations in this case are beyond comprehension,” Houchens wrote. “These violations and Richardson’s alleged criminal conduct strike at the heart of our criminal justice system.”

Houchens added: “Richardson’s motives remain a mystery…”

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