Man faces child endangerment charges

Recommend This Print This Get E-mail News Alerts Buy Photos/Page Reprints * Breaking News If local news is breaking and you know about it: * Call Us: 800-296-5137 * E-mail Us * Upload Your Photos

Grand jury indicts Mullins, who is accused of exposing his two children to the bitter cold

By Preston Knight-pknight@nvdaily.com

WOODSTOCK -- A 90-minute manhunt during which a father may have exposed his children to bitter cold earlier this year has led to indictments charging him with two counts of child endangerment.

A Shenandoah County Circuit Court grand jury indicted Jason Mullins, 32, of 710 S. Water St., Woodstock, on the two counts March 2. He is accused of leaving his in-laws' house on foot with his children, ages 9 and 10, shortly after midnight Jan. 11. Mullins' keys had been taken from him, and he had been drinking, according to a criminal complaint.

Three police officers could not find the group, and the defendant hung up on the Woodstock Police Department when they reached him on his cell phone. Sprint was then contacted to "ping" the phone, the complaint states, and Mullins' location was traced to a field off South Water Street.

It felt like 11 degrees outside, the complaint states, and the children's grandmother was concerned that they were not dressed warmly enough. After 90 minutes, Mullins was found, and he surrendered after running 15-20 feet away from an officer, the complaint states.

The children were in the beginning stages of hypothermia and their pants were wet from the knees down, their shoes so wet water could be poured out of them and their shirts wet to the elbows, it states. They had full-body shakes.

Mullins is scheduled to appear in court April 13.

Others indicted March 2 included:

• Yovanis Ferrufino, 30, of 120 Tower Ave., Woodstock, on one count of hit and run.

He is accused of dragging his ex-girlfriend 50-75 feet in his vehicle as she tried to retrieve her cell phone from him as she stood outside of the driver's window. She was found unconscious, bleeding from the head and lying in the road outside her apartment complex, a complaint states.

• Westley Strosnider, 22, of 509 Indian Camp Trail, Maurertown, on one count of hit and run.

Strosnider is accused of hitting a Mt. Jackson man, who later was in a medically induced coma at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

• Tyler Lee Pace, 18, of 154 Sherman Road, Woodstock, on one count of possession of oxycodone. Pace must perform 100 hours of community service.

• Justin Schaffer, 31, of 382 Hunter Road, Maurertown, on one count each distribution of marijuana, misdemeanor distribution of marijuana, distribution of a schedule I drug and conspiracy to distribute a schedule I drug.

• Joshua Diamond, 22, of 7601 E. Main St., unit E-9, Middletown, on one count of forging a public record.

• Thomas Desimone, 39, of West Bayshore, N.Y., on one count of possession of cocaine. He must also serve 100 hours of community service.

• Arlene Knouse Schultz, 49, of 33 Oak Hill Lane, Toms Brook, on two counts of distribution of morphine.

• Michael Bedell II, 29, of 851 Colley Block Road, No. 12, Strasburg, on two counts of larceny and one count of possession of a firearm after being a convicted felon.

• Jacob Sexton, 22, of 274 Cardinal St., Strasburg, on one count of larceny.

• Deborah Jones, 55, of 85 Riverside Lane, Front Royal, on three counts of distribution of oxycodone and one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.

• Shelia French, 49, of Port Deposit, Md., on one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.

• David McDaniel, 22, of 311 Meghann Drive, Woodstock, on one count each of distribution of cocaine, distribution of marijuana and conspiracy to distribute a schedule I drug. His brother, Paul McDaniel, 21, same address, is charged with on one count of distribution of marijuana.

• Carolyn Holzbauer, 22, of 435 N. Water St., Woodstock, on one count of possession of a schedule I drug.

• Nathan Benson, 32, of 211 Randolph Place, Front Royal, on one count each of possession of methadone and possession of hydromorphone.

• Dustin Asbury, 21, of Harrisonburg, on one count each of credit card theft and credit card fraud. He was sentenced to serve four months in jail.

• Claude Delmus Shafer Jr., 33, of 14447 Old Valley Pike, Edinburg, on one count each of forgery, passing a forged document and obtaining money by false pretenses.

• Roberto Cardoso-Lopez, 39, of 9592 S. Congress St., New Market, on two counts of child endangerment and one count of DUI.

• John Dolly, 33, of 728 S. Kent St., Winchester, on one count of driving after being declared a habitual offender.

• Jerry B. Long, 25, of 1318 Fravel Road, Woodstock, on one count of breaking and entering.

• Charles Patton, 37, of Gallagher, W.Va., on one count each of breaking and entering, grand larceny and destruction of property.

• Steven Wealthy, 20, of 102 Ashby Lane, Apt. B, New Market, on one count of receiving stolen goods.

• Michelle Warnick, 28, of Martinsburg, W.Va., on two counts of obtaining money by false pretenses.

• William Kerns, 45, of 67 Lamberts Lane, Toms Brook, on one count of driving after being declared an habitual offender.