Andrew Zachary Ray entered a no contest plea Monday to end a case that began three years ago with an arrest that closed off traffic to a rural section of Roanoke County.
The August 2019 police raid on Ray’s home on Keffer Road, an early morning operation that involved a fleet of law enforcement vehicles and drew television cameras and onlookers as a search continued for hours, turned out to be far more dramatic than the charges placed against Ray.
Ray faced a felony shoplifting charge in Montgomery County, sparked by stealing a blanket from the Walmart Christiansburg. He pleaded guilty in November 2020 in an agreement that brought him a day in jail and a $100 fine.
On Monday in Roanoke County Circuit Court, a prosecutor said that it was an off-duty Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office investigator’s observation of the shoplifting that prompted a request to search Ray’s home. That was done with the assistance of Virginia State Police and resulted in the finding of a .22-caliber rifle.
Ray initially was charged with being a violent felon in possession of a gun, a charge that carried a minimum five years in prison. In an agreement worked out by defense attorney Deborah Caldwell-Bono of Roanoke, Ray pleaded no contest to an amended charge that dropped the violence designation and with it, the mandatory minimum.
He was convicted and sentenced to five years, to be suspended after he served three. Judge Charlie Dorsey imposed two years of supervised probation after Ray’s release.
