Trigger Warning: Child Abuse

Man Pleads Guilty to Burglarizing Downtown Business, Abuse of Multiple Children in Separate Cases from 2023-2024

NORFOLK, Va. — Trey Alonzo Brown, 26, pleaded guilty to burglary and theft charges as well as multiple child sexual abuse and neglect charges in three cases which stemmed from multiple unrelated incidents in 2023 and 2024: when he twice broke into a downtown pizza parlor, when he sexually assaulted a child inside a church, and when he neglected two babies, one of whom was injured falling from a bed, by leaving them at home unattended.

In the early morning hours of May 3, 2023, Mr. Brown broke into the Benny Damato’s pizza parlor on Granby Street in Downtown Norfolk by smashing the glass of the front door with a brick. While inside, Mr. Brown stole $1,433 from the safe. Security footage showed Mr. Brown committing the burglary, but there was not enough information for investigators to identify Mr. Brown as the suspect at that time.

On Nov. 5, 2023, Mr. Brown sexually assaulted a young girl after luring her into a closet of a church where he was volunteering with children. The girl disclosed the incident to her mother, who had been present volunteering with a different group of children, and they reported the assault to Norfolk Police. Investigators identified Mr. Brown as the suspect and, based on the evidence and the child’s disclosures, secured warrants for his arrest for several child sexual abuse felonies. The child also underwent a pediatric forensic nurse examination, from which samples of what was later confirmed to be Mr. Brown’s DNA were collected from her body. Police continued investigating this assault, conducting forensic interviews with the victim, and collecting evidence in this case until Mr. Brown’s arrest and confession following an unrelated incident in February 2024.

On Nov. 21, 2023, Mr. Brown broke into Benny Damato’s again in the same manner as before and stole $142 from the safe. Security footage again captured the burglary and, that time, Mr. Brown left behind traces of blood. Forensic investigators collected samples of the blood, and subsequent DNA testing identified Mr. Brown as the suspect. After he was detained in February 2024, Mr. Brown confessed to having committed the two burglaries.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 17, 2024, Mr. Brown left his two children — a 2-month-old and 1-year-old — home unattended while he went to buy cigarettes. Mr. Brown left the two babies in a bedroom and left the infant lying unsecured on the bed. When Mr. Brown returned after about two hours, he found the infant crying face-down on the floor with a bruised eye and leg. Rather than seeking immediate medical attention, Mr. Brown iced the infant’s bruises and waited for the children’s mother to return home from work before going to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. There, Mr. Brown was reported to Child Protective Services and the police. Based on their investigation, Mr. Brown was charged with two counts of felony child neglect, detained, and interviewed by police for this incident and the others for which he was charged.

On Sept. 29, following some months where Mr. Brown was mentally incompetent to stand trial and was restored to competency, Mr. Brown entered a global plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to two counts each of both felony burglary and misdemeanor larceny in the first case; to taking indecent liberties with a child under age 15, aggravated sexual battery of a child under age 13, abduction with intent to defile, and sodomy of a child under age 13 — all felonies — in the second case; and to two counts of felony child abuse in the third case. Mr. Brown’s plea agreement also calls for him to pay restitution to the victim of the burglaries and for him to face a combined active sentence of up to 16 years in prison, which is near the midpoint of Mr. Brown’s state sentencing guidelines. Judge Joseph C. Lindsey accepted Mr. Brown’s plea agreement, found him guilty of those charges, and set his sentencing hearing on Jan. 16, 2026.

“Mr. Brown committed a series of serious offenses and was able to avoid arrest for a time, but eventually the law caught up with him,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “While we may never know what triggered this string of crimes, it appears that mental illness appears to have played a role. Mr. Brown poses a threat to the community, especially to children, and we will seek a sentence for him that will protect the public from further harm.”

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle L. Newkirk and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorneys George M. Afentakis and Wm. Joshua Holder are prosecuting Mr. Brown’s cases, and Norfolk Police Detectives Jason E. Myers and Kevin M. Gross led the investigations.

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