Man Sentenced to 4 Years After Pleading Guilty to Burglary, Grand Larceny, Vandalism at Norfolk Video Game Store in 2024

NORFOLK, Va. — Brian Montaez Williams, 38, was sentenced last Friday, Nov. 7, to serve four years in prison after he pleaded guilty to burglarizing, stealing from, and vandalizing a Ghent video game store last year.

On May 16, 2024, Mr. Williams broke into the front window of a video game store on Colonial Avenue, vandalized property inside, and stole various gaming consoles and accessories worth more than $1,000. While committing the burglary, Mr. Williams had his face covered, but he injured himself and left behind traces of his blood. Forensic investigators collected samples of the blood, and testing of those samples identified Mr. Williams, whose DNA profile was already in the state DNA databank due to a history of burglary and theft.

The police ultimately arrested Mr. Williams, and on July 28, 2025, Mr. Williams entered an agreement to plead guilty to felony burglary and grand larceny as well as misdemeanor vandalism. The was no agreement as to the sentence Mr. Williams would receive. Judge Devon R. Paige accepted Mr. Williams’s plea agreement and continued his case for sentencing following the preparation of his pre-sentence report.

At Mr. Williams’s sentencing hearing on Nov. 7, the Commonwealth argued that Mr. Williams should serve a 4-year active sentence, given his criminal history of similar offenses and that his state sentencing guidelines recommended a range between two years and nine months and five years and six months in prison. Mr. Williams’s defense counsel argued for an active sentence close to the low end of his guidelines and noted that Mr. Williams’s criminal behavior has largely been fueled by substance abuse, for which Mr. Williams has since sought treatment. After hearing the arguments, Judge Paige sentenced Mr. Williams to serve four years in prison and suspended another 12 years on the conditions that Mr. Williams completes five years of uniform good behavior and an indeterminate period of supervised probation during that time after his release.

“Whether it was a substance-use disorder or something else that motivated Mr. Williams to burglarize a small business in Norfolk, Mr. Williams victimized another person by doing so, and he had no excuse for it,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “That is why Mr. Williams will be going to prison. I hope that Mr. Williams makes use of the resources available in the Department of Corrections and on probation to get a hold of his drug problem, both for his own sake and for the sake of other people, so that he can lead a productive and crime-free life in the future.”

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Bailey C. Ottinger prosecuted Mr. Williams’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Kevin M. Gross led the investigation.

###