Man Sentenced to 5 Years After Pleading Guilty to Vandalizing Olde Huntersville Church, Burglarizing Ghent Business

NORFOLK, Va. — William Delanor Stone Jr., 61, was sentenced on Friday to serve five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to vandalizing an Olde Huntersville church earlier this year and, about a month later, burglarizing a Ghent business.

On Feb. 12, 2025, Mr. Stone used a pipe to break into the front window of a church located in a small strip mall in the 1600 block of Church Street. Mr. Stone stole camera equipment and instruments before fleeing. When church members discovered the break in, they contacted the Norfolk Police Department, and a detective responded to the scene to review security footage. The footage showed Mr. Stone approaching the church using a wheelchair and wearing a red hat, a dark-colored hoodie under a blue puffer jacket, red pants, and red sneakers while he committed the burglary. The detective shared the suspect information with the department, as Mr. Stone’s identity was not known at the time.

Five days later, on Feb. 17, an officer noticed Mr. Stone, who matched the description from the church burglary and was using a wheelchair, nearby on A Avenue. The officer spoke with Mr. Stone, got his identifying information, and took a picture of Mr. Stone to share with the detective, who confirmed that Mr. Stone was the suspect from the church burglary. After the officer arrested Mr. Stone and advised him of his Miranda rights, Mr. Stone agreed to speak with the detective and confessed to stealing from the church, although he did not admit to breaking in. Mr. Stone was initially held on his charges without bond but was later granted a bail in General District Court over the Commonwealth’s objection.

In the overnight hours between March 9 and 10, Mr. Stone broke into a Ghent business in the 2200 block of Colonial Avenue. Similarly to the church, the front glass window of the store was broken, and inventory was stolen. The same Norfolk Police detective reviewed security footage from the store and immediately recognized Mr. Stone — wearing the same clothing he wore when he broke into the church — as the person who committed that burglary. Mr. Stone was located and arrested again shortly after.

In Circuit Court on June 16, Mr. Stone entered an agreement to plead guilty as charged to felony burglary for the incident at the store and to pay restitution to the business owner. The Commonwealth had previously agreed in General District Court to the dismissal of an additional misdemeanor larceny charge. Judge Robert B. Rigney took Mr. Stone’s plea agreement under advisement, pending a review of his pre-sentence report at a sentencing hearing on Oct. 3.

On July 14, Mr. Stone agreed to plead guilty to felony vandalism for the incident at the church. In exchange for his guilty plea, the Commonwealth agreed to reduce his initial burglary charge to vandalism and agreed to dismiss another misdemeanor petit larceny charge. Judge Joseph C. Lindsey accepted the plea agreement, with an agreement that Mr. Stone’s sentence in that case would be within his state sentencing guidelines and that it would be decided on Oct. 3 along with his sentence for the other case.

After reviewing Mr. Stone’s report from probation and hearing sentencing arguments on Friday, Judge Rigney sentenced Mr. Stone to serve five years in prison with six months of post-release supervision. Mr. Stone’s sentence was between the midpoint and high-end of his sentencing guidelines.

“Mr. Stone committed two break-ins within a few days and a few blocks of one another,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “At the age of 61, Mr. Stone knows better. I hope that Mr. Stone makes use of his time in prison and the resources available there and on post-release supervision to address the root causes of his behavior.”

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Christina L. Brady and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Wm. Joshua Holder prosecuted Mr. Stone’s cases, and Norfolk Police Detective Kevin M. Gross led the investigations.

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