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Police say U-of-R scare suspect has no connection to university
From NBC12 News
Police have arrested a suspect in Tuesday's scare at the University of Richmond that prompted a four-hour lockdown.
Authorities say a tip from the community led them to their suspect in Henrico County. They arrested Seth Newman, 19, yesterday afternoon at his home on Chadwick Drive, where they say they also found a realistic-looking pellet gun.
Newman is now facing several charges in connection to the gun scare at the U-of-R campus that led to an intensive search for a man spotted at the library wearing a disguise and carrying what appeared to be a handgun.
"The community and the media assisted greatly in putting out an informative description which led to the tip we received to the exact location of where this individual lived and recovery of elements of evidence," said Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe.
Newman is being charged with a felony count of hiding his identity, as well as two misdemeanors that include impersonating and acting like a law enforcement officer.
Police say there's no word on what Newman's possible motive could be. He has no known connection to the university and police don't believe the teen has been in trouble before.
NBC12 legal analyst Steve Benjamin says the charge of "hiding one's identity" is a class-six felony dating back to the Ku Klux Klan era, where members wore masks in public.
Benjamin says it's an unusual charge that's not often used, but does carry a punishment of up to five years in jail.
my prediction is that if they don't come up with somethig else to charge him with it will be like the "brandishing" episode at UVA, which i think wound up dismissed or dismissed with community service.
