Man Pleads Guilty to Drug Possession, Will Enter First Offender Treatment Program

NORFOLK, Va. — D’Angelo Jermaine Daggs, 34, pleaded guilty on April 24 to possessing crack cocaine, a Schedule II drug, and will enter the First Offender Program, which is a rehabilitative incarceration alternative in Virginia for defendants guilty of a first-time simple possession.

On July 15, 2024, around 10 p.m., Norfolk Police patrol officers saw Mr. Daggs in the 700 block of B Avenue and approached him to arrest him on an active warrant. After Mr. Daggs was told he was under arrest, he started reaching near his pants waistband and pocket and struggling with the officers as they walked him to their patrol car. When the officers got a hold of what Mr. Daggs had reached for, they saw that it was a small plastic bag containing what they suspected to be crack cocaine. The officers conducted a field test of the suspected drugs, which confirmed the presence of cocaine, and charged Mr. Daggs with simple possession of a Schedule II drug. A lab test later verified the bag contained cocaine.

Following his arrest and release on bail, Mr. Daggs entered and completed a residential drug treatment program to address his substance-use disorder. Mr. Daggs has no prior felony record and no prior convictions for drug offenses, making him eligible for either a lesser misdemeanor conviction of possession of paraphernalia or for participation in Virginia’s First Offender Program.

On April 24, Mr. Daggs pleaded guilty and asked that the judge impose the conditions of the First Offender Program as set by the state code. Judge Robert B. Rigney accepted Mr. Daggs’ first-offender plea, withheld a finding of guilt, and placed Mr. Daggs on supervised probation for two years while he maintains several conditions, including completion of treatments recommended by the City of Norfolk Substance Abuse Services, sobriety from alcohol and illicit drugs, continued employment, completion of 100 hours of community service, and uniform good behavior. If Mr. Daggs meets the requirements of the First Offender Program, his charge will be dismissed. If Mr. Daggs fails to meet those requirements, the judge will have the ability to convict Mr. Daggs as charged and sentence him accordingly. Judge Rigney set a hearing date for April 27, 2027, to review Mr. Daggs’ compliance.

“Virginia has long had a first-offender statute that allows people charged with their first drug offense to avoid a criminal conviction. The requirements of that statute are hard to meet, but Mr. Daggs wanted the opportunity to do so, and we agreed that he should have that opportunity,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Mr. Daggs took the first step toward sobriety by completing drug treatment after his arrest. We hope that he builds on his initial progress so that he can keep his criminal record clean and live a life clean of drugs. We are rooting for him to do so.”

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney A. Robinson Winn is prosecuting Mr. Daggs’ case, and Norfolk Police Officer Cameron R. Harrell led the investigation.

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