Man Sentenced to 3 ½ Years After Eluding Norfolk Police, Crashing Into Power Line, Being Felon in Possession of Firearm While Possessing Fentanyl in 2023
NORFOLK, Va. – Reginald Leon Tinker, 34, was sentenced on Friday to serve three and a half years in custody for being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing that firearm with a Schedule II drug, and eluding police after officers pulled him over for improperly displayed tags.
On Sept. 10, Norfolk Police officers pulled Mr. Tinker over for not having a front license plate. Mr. Tinker temporarily stopped in a residential area on Lafayette Boulevard, but he drove off as officers got out of their patrol car and approached his vehicle. Mr. Tinker sped through the area, disregarding several stop signs, and ultimately crashed into a utility pole, causing the pole and power lines to fall into the street. Mr. Tinker then got out of his vehicle and ran away from officers once more into the woods nearby. Officers set up a perimeter to locate Mr. Tinker and found him in the backyard of a house on Atterbury Street. As officers approached him, Mr. Tinker dropped a pipe used for smoking on the ground. When officers searched Mr. Tinker’s wrecked car, they found a small container filled with a white powder — later tested and confirmed to contain fentanyl — and a handgun, which Mr. Tinker is prohibited from possessing as a convicted felon.
On April 23, Mr. Tinker pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, felony possession of a firearm with a Schedule II drug, and misdemeanor eluding. In exchange for Mr. Tinker’s plea to those charges and taking into account Mr. Tinker’s drug addiction, the Commonwealth agreed to not pursue similar charges carrying harsher penalties and dismiss an additional drug charge Mr. Tinker faced. Mr. Tinker’s sentence was left entirely in the hands of the judge, and Judge Robert B. Rigney accepted Mr. Tinker’s plea agreement.
On Friday, Judge Rigney sentenced Mr. Tinker to serve three years and six months in prison and suspended an additional five years on the conditions that Mr. Tinker complete two years of supervised probation, including any substance abuse and mental health treatments recommended by his probation officer, and three years of uniform good behavior.
“While Mr. Tinker’s substance-use disorder undoubtedly played a part in this incident, Mr. Tinker is a felon, should not have possessed a gun, and endangered himself and others by fleeing from the police and crashing into a power pole,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “We have sympathy for people with substance-use disorder and seek treatment where feasible, but in cases like this there must be accountability first.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Daniel G. Engel prosecuted Mr. Tinker’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Investigator Robert E. Broadbent led the investigation.
###