Multi-county burglary case might move to federal court

By The Daily Progress Staff

Published: August 15, 2008

PALMYRA - Two Fluvanna men charged in connection with a property theft ring may be facing federal charges.

Defense attorneys for Mark Wayne Shifflett and Ronald Lee Morris requested that their arraignments scheduled for this morning be moved to Sept. 12 pending possible federal charges.

“We want to speak with [Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Huber] to see how many of the charges overlap,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Jeffrey W. Haislip said this morning in court.

A call made to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office was not immediately returned.

Authorities executed a search warrant April 4 at Shifflett’s home at 153 Cedar Hill Road. Investigators seized more than 200 items from the house, including tools, electronics, knives and baseball cards. Police have said they believe both men are connected to about 50 burglaries in eight Virginia counties.

Haislip said in court today that both men were sentenced to prison time recently in Bath County. According to court records, both men pleaded guilty to two counts of breaking and entering and two counts of grand larceny. Morris was sentenced late last month to an active prison sentence of 10 years; Shifflett was sentenced to an active sentence of eight years.

In June, a Fluvanna grand jury charged Shifflett and Morris with felony possession of cocaine and felony possession of a firearm by a convicted violent felon. Morris, 48, also was charged with residential burglary, grand larceny, conspiracy with Shifflett to commit breaking and entering, conspiracy with Shifflett to commit larceny and another count of possession of a firearm by a convicted violent felon.

Shifflett, 46, also was charged with burglary, grand larceny, receiving stolen property, conspiracy to commit burglary with Morris, conspiracy to commit grand larceny with Morris, conspiracy to receive stolen property with Shifflett’s wife, Patricia Lynne Shifflett, and two more counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted violent felon.

Both men remain held without bond at the Central Virginia Regional Jail.