Local Virginia State Trooper arrested for leaving threatening notes on woman's front door
Within days of the incident last November a man was identified by Virginia State Police as one of their own, but he wasn't arrested until yesterday.
On November 8, 2024, an Albemarle County woman returned home to find two notes attached to her front door. One said, "You’re Not Safe Anywhere" and the other said "Fuck Around And Find Out." Her door camera footage [seen above] showed a man with a dog casually leaving the notes on her front door. She did not recognize the man, but within days he was identified by Virginia State Police as one of their own, 30-year-old Virginia State Trooper Logan G. Pingley, who lived nearby in the Woodlands apartment complex just south of Charlottesville.
Almost seven months later, on Monday, June 2, an Albemarle County grand jury finally issued an indictment charging Pingley with "knowingly and intentionally communicating in writing a threat to kill or do bodily harm to a person," a Class 6 felony that comes with a possible 5-year jail sentence.
But why did it take so long? In contrast, to use a recent example, pedestrian activist Kevin Cox was arrested and charged with vandalism in Charlottesville within days of spray chalking a makeshift crosswalk on Elliot Avenue as a form of protest, a story recently featured in The Guardian.
According to attorney Jeff Fogel, who is representing the woman [who declines to identify herself and is not named in court documents], Virginia State Police investigator Brendan S. May, the sole grand jury witness, identified Pingley and handed over his report to the Albemarle Commonwealth Attorney within days of the incident.
However, according to court records, on November 21, 2024, Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney James Hingeley declined to take the case, telling the court that it presented a conflict of interest because Pingley had served as a witness in previous cases his office had handled. Hingeley asked that a special prosecutor be appointed.
"I think that's bull," says Fogel. "Is he [Hingeley] saying no cop will be prosecuted by his office if they've appeared in his courtroom?"
However, a judge approved Hingeley's request and the Commonwealth Attorney for the City of Roanoke, Donald Caldwell, was assigned to the case.
"This case was solvable the second day," Fogel insists, "but Caldwell sat on this case for a long time. They had all the information they needed to go arrest him."
Caldwell was asked to comment on the case, and why it took so long for an indictment, but he has yet to respond. Asked to comment on the case, and his decision to seek a special prosecutor, Hingeley declined to comment
Curiously, while the Virginia State Police knew about Pingley's behavior from the beginning, VSP spokesperson Matthew Demlein said they were notified of his indictment on Monday and that “he has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the proceedings and the required internal investigation by the VSP Professional Standards Division.”
2:15 p.m.update: in subsequent communications, Demlein informed the DTM that Pingley has been on administrative leave since last November.
Pingley grew up in Madison County and played college baseball at Wingate University in North Carolina, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. He became a Virginia State Trooper in 2019 and was assigned to the Appomattox Division Area 18 Office in Charlottesville. He is also planning to get married this summer, according to an event listing on Zola.
As the Daily Progress reported, Pingley's attorney, Brady Nicks, presented a rather odd defense, claiming that the notes his client left on the woman's door were meant for someone else, and that "he was attempting to warn someone that was up to no good to stop before someone in this community got hurt."
“It doesn't matter who he intended to threaten,” says Fogel. “The notes speak for themselves and do not mention any person, bad conduct or anything else. This is a bizarre and illegal way to give that message.”
Nicks also argued that the charge against Pingley for leaving the threatening notes was a "direct affront" to his First Amendment right to free speech. Nicks said the "whole truth" about what happened would come out in court.
“The claim that Pingley was exercising his First Amendment rights is absurd,” says Fogel. “The First Amendment doesn't protect threatening words any more than those of a bank robber who simply says I have a gun in my pocket, give me all the cash.”
"Regardless of his reasons," Fogel added, "there is no justification for threatening people, especially if you are a law enforcement officer."
Pingley was arrested on Wednesday, June 4, is free on bond, and his next court hearing is scheduled for June 11.
How did the dog leave a note?