Steve Descano | FFXnow

Published August 7, 2025 at 1:45PM

Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano (staff photo by Jared Serre)

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano took a swing at the federal government yesterday (Wednesday), claiming that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is making it harder for prosecutors to effectively do their jobs.

“The first thing that I hear in our community over and over again is, not only does the federal government focus on fearmongering around crime, but they’re taking it a step further now by actually creating a culture of fear around law enforcement,” Descano said.

News

Virginia AG Miyares to investigate Fairfax’s top prosecutor over abduction case

By Jared Serre

Published August 4, 2025 at 1:45PM

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Andres Caceres Jaldin and AG Jason Miyares (photos via offices and FCPD)

Attorney General Jason Miyares intends to investigate the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office after the attempted abduction of a 3-year-old from Fair Oaks Mall last month.

Virginia Republicans argued Friday (Aug. 1) that Andres Caceres Jaldin, who allegedly swiped the toddler from a play area on July 18 before being stopped on the mall’s second floor, should have been in custody based on previous criminal charges — not out in the community.

News

JUST IN: Man convicted of murder for 2021 shooting at Annandale apartments

By Angela Woolsey

Published June 27, 2025 at 12:30PM | Updated June 27, 2025 at 4:18PM

The Fairmont Gardens apartments in Annandale (via Google Maps)

A 21-year-old man is facing the possibility of life in prison for fatally shooting a teen at the Fairmont Gardens Apartments in Annandale over an alleged gang rivalry.

Ezequiel Diaz-Mondragon was convicted yesterday (Thursday) by a Fairfax County jury of first-degree murder for killing 18-year-old Anthony “Tony” Benitez on Feb. 19, 2021, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s office announced today.

News

Police officer who shot, killed Reston woman will not face criminal charges

By Jared Serre

Published April 9, 2025 at 9:00AM

Body camera video shows a Fairfax County police officer identified as Peter Liu pointing his gun at a Reston woman in the VY Reston Heights apartments (via FCPD/YouTube)

A Fairfax County police officer will not face criminal charges for shooting and killing a Reston woman after she struck him with a knife and cornered him in a dead-end hallway last September.

After telling Sydney Wilson numerous times to “back up” while she pursued him with a knife, Police Officer First Class (PFC) Peter Liu fired five gunshots in her direction — an adequate response on Liu’s part, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said yesterday (Tuesday).

News

Former Va. Senate candidate sentenced to jail for posing as immigration lawyer

By Vernon Miles

Published March 10, 2025 at 2:30PM

Fairfax County Deputy Chief of Police for Investigations and Operations Support Lt. Col. Tom Ryan announces the arrest of Jasmine Moawad for posing as an attorney and defrauding immigrants on May 12, 2021 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

A one-time Virginia Senate candidate will have to spend time in jail and pay restitution to her victims after fraudulently posing as an immigration lawyer.

Jasmine Moawad, a 49-year-old woman originally from Bolivia, was sentenced to five years in jail for fraud on Friday, March 7, with all but six months suspended, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office announced.

News

Descano slams Youngkin’s decision to commute prison sentence for former police officer

By Jared Serre

Published March 3, 2025 at 3:45PM

Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano speaks as Melissa Johnson, mother of police shooting victim Timothy McCree Johnson, looks on (via Commonwealth Attorney's Office/Facebook)

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano slammed Gov. Glenn Youngkin today (Monday), accusing the Republican executive of commuting a former police officer’s prison sentence without regard for “the law or the facts.”

The governor’s office announced late Sunday that Youngkin had commuted the sentence of former Sgt. Wesley Shifflett only two days after it was handed down by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows.

News

BREAKING: Prison sentence commuted for former FCPD officer who fatally shot man in Tysons

By Jared Serre

Published March 2, 2025 at 11:15PM

Fairfax County Courthouse (staff photo by James Jarvis)

A former Fairfax County police officer who shot and killed a man in Tysons had his prison sentence commuted tonight (Sunday) by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Former Sgt. Wesley Shifflett was sentenced to serve three years in state prison on Friday (Feb. 28) after being convicted of recklessly handling a firearm.

News

BREAKING: Former FCPD officer sentenced to jail for fatal Tysons shooting

By Angela Woolsey

Published February 28, 2025 at 5:15PM

Fairfax County Courthouse (file photo)

The former Fairfax County police officer who fatally shot Timothy McCree Johnson outside Tysons Corner Center in February 2023 has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows sentenced former sergeant Wesley Shifflett to five years of incarceration today (Friday) with two years suspended, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office announced.

News

JUST IN: Virginia AG seeks to take over dismissed Fairfax County indecent exposure case

By Angela Woolsey

Published February 11, 2025 at 3:55PM

Fairfax County Courthouse (file photo)

Virginia’s attorney general is apparently seeking to revive a Fairfax indecent exposure case against a person who was subsequently charged with allegedly exposing himself in a girls’ locker room at Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington.

In a Feb. 11 letter to Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, Attorney General Jason Miyares accused the county’s top prosecutor of undermining public safety after a case charging Richard Kenneth Cox with indecent exposure at a Planet Fitness in Fairfax City was dismissed last summer.

Countywide

Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney forms new wrongful convictions review partnership

By Jared Serre

Published February 10, 2025 at 11:20AM

Fairfax County Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Individuals who believe they have been wrongfully convicted in Fairfax County now have a new way forward.

The county’s Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, in partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP), announced today (Monday) the creation of a Conviction Integrity Unit that will review challenged cases, establishing a process to potentially “secure more just outcomes.”