VIRGINIA BRIEFING

Thursday, June 28, 2007

DOMINION VIRGINIA POWER

Residential Electric Bills to Rise by 4 Percent

Dominion Virginia Power will increase its fuel rate beginning Sunday after receiving approval from the State Corporation Commission. A typical residential customer's average monthly bill for 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity would rise by 4 percent, from $87.18 to $90.59.

The SCC's order, filed Tuesday, allows Dominion to raise its fuel factor to 2.232 cents per kilowatt hour, from 1.891 cents per kilowatt hour. Dominion said the increase is necessary to cover the higher costs of fuel used to generate electricity.

-- Associated Press

LOUDOUN COUNTY

Teacher Faces New Charge Involving Minor

A Herndon Middle School teacher -- arrested in Fairfax County in January on a charge of taking indecent liberties with a 17-year-old girl in his care -- had an additional charge filed against him yesterday in Loudoun County, where he lives.

Richard C. Forsythe, 37, had inappropriate contact in October with the then-16-year-old girl in his home in Sterling, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office alleges. He was charged by Loudoun authorities with custodial indecent liberties with a minor.

Forsythe was arrested in January after an investigation revealed his relationship with the girl, who lives in Reston. No inappropriate contact took place on school property, authorities said.

Forsythe has been suspended from his teaching job at Herndon Middle School without pay since January. He is being held without bond at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.

-- Bill Brubaker

WOODBRIDGE

Man Arrested in Bronx on Sex Assault Charge

A Woodbridge man wanted on charges of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl in his apartment was arrested yesterday in the Bronx, N.Y., police said.

Kwame Boateng, in his 40s, lured the child into his apartment in the 14300 block of Westminster Lane by telling her he had photographs of her, Prince William County police said. The girl told police that she had been assaulted by Boateng several times since September 2004, authorities said.

-- Amy Orndorff

FAIRFAX COUNTY

Victim of Fatal Shooting Is Identified

A man who was found shot to death in the Lorton area of Fairfax County on Monday afternoon was identified yesterday as Jose Romero, 19, of Los Angeles. Fairfax police are investigating whether his death was gang-related.

Police said Romero appeared to have been shot several times in the upper body about 9 p.m. Sunday.

His body was found at 4:30 p.m. Monday behind an abandoned house in the 8900 block of Lorton Road, on the grounds of the former D.C. prison.

Police said yesterday that Romero was a native of El Salvador, and had no fixed address in Los Angeles.

-- Tom Jackman

ARLINGTON COUNTY

Woman Robbed by Pair Posing as Police Officers

Arlington County police said a 26-year-old woman was robbed Tuesday night in Rosslyn by a man and a woman pretending to be police officers.

The victim was driving in the 1900 block of North Moore Street just before midnight when she noticed a vehicle behind her with a blue light on the dashboard. She then heard a man's voice, amplified by a PA system, ordering her out of the car.

The man ordered her to put her hands on the roof of her car and frisked her. The woman asked for identification. The man told her she was stopped for making an illegal U-turn, but no citation was issued, and the victim reported that cash was taken from her purse. The victim said the suspects wore black uniforms with gold badges.

-- Daniela Deane