Alleged Assault On W& OD Trail Highlights Risks

In June, they arrested a fugitive illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was riding a bicycle without lights about 9:30 p.m. The sheriff's department transferred the suspect, Fredy Villalta-Villacorta, 21, of Leesburg to federal authorities, who had ordered him to leave the country.

One afternoon in May 2002, deputies apprehended a man who had exposed himself to at least two people.

And in an early evening arrest, in September 2003, deputies responded to a call from a jogger who said he was attacked in what Troxell called "a W&OD road rage" case.

The 38-year-old Sterling man told the deputies he had been jogging along the trail when he was struck by a red-and-white Yamaha dirt bike. The jogger said he yelled at the man on the bike. The rider reportedly got off the bike and struck the jogger several times. The rider got away.

"We always tell people that, first and foremost, if you are going to use the trail, even in the daytime, you should try to use it in pairs," Troxell said. "You know, try to go with at least one friend -- or more.

"There are some stretches of the trail where you can be out there with no one else around. When you start getting close to Leesburg or Ashburn Village, there tend to be more people on the trail. But if you go between those two destinations or further out, you'll find less and less people."

Troxell offered one other safety tip: Keep those iPods at home.

"I know they are very popular," he said, "but we warn against using those on the trail, because you could be more susceptible to someone coming up behind you and not even hearing them."