A Prince William County grand jury on Tuesday indicted a Dumfries police officer on charges of obtaining money by false pretenses. A judge has issued a warrant for his arrest.
Nathan Vinyard, 31, of Dale City, was put on administrative leave from the 14-officer department about three weeks ago when Dumfries officials received information that he had “sold some town property to an individual and kept the money,” said Town Manager Kimberly Alexander.
The alleged offenses occurred between Feb. 18, 2008, and Jan. 2, according to court records.
Alexander said she contacted Virginia State Police who initiated an investigation. When the investigation was completed Sept. 4, the town fired Vinyard, Alexander said.
Vinyard had been a Dumfries police officer for about 4 ½ years.
As of Thursday afternoon, Vinyard had not been arrested and no trial date had been set.
Dumfries Police Chief Calvin Johnson said that, while he did not know specifically what items were taken and sold, they had to do with firing range equipment owned by the department.
The Dumfries Police Department owns 16 range targets and stands that it bought for about $2,000 and uses for practice at a range in Stafford County.
“There have been a lot of issues with former Officer Vinyard,” Alexander said.
“This is not something that just popped up over the last month or two. There are other things that could possibly come up during a trial,” Alexander said. “There have been things he has done that are questionable at best, things that there probably should have been disciplinary action taken prior to this.”
Vinyard was indicted on two counts of obtaining money by false pretenses. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and $200,000 in fines.
Staff writer Aileen Streng can be reached at 703-878-8010.
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