Fake Agents Nab Wrong Woman

BRISTOL, Va.—Two men and woman who said they were agents with a drug task force handcuffed a woman, sexually assaulted her during a strip search and hauled her off to jail Oct. 9, saying she was under arrest for skipping a court appearance while out of jail on bond. But the three who arrested her were only masquerading as agents.

On top of that, police said, the fake agents passed the handcuffed woman to a bail bondsman in hopes of receiving a reward.

The bondsman then took the woman to the Bristol jail where she was immediately freed.

“She clearly had identification to clearly show she wasn’t the person in question,“ Bristol Police Detective Sgt. Steven Crawford said Thursday.

Charges of abduction, robbery, impersonating a law enforcement officer, conspiracy and sexual battery were filed against the two men and a woman who staged the false arrest, Crawford said.

Officers arrested Donna Fitzwater of Bristol, Tenn., and Dwayne Peters of Greeneville, Tenn., on Thursday. They continue to search for Stacy Herndon of Lebanon, Va.

A fourth person – Doug Roller of Bristol, Va. – is being charged as an accessory, Crawford said, based on accusations that Roller lured the woman to Mumpower Park in Bristol, Va., so the trio could corral her.

“They ran out with badges in their hands, and they’re screaming, ... ‘drug task force,‘ “ Crawford said.

The detective said the trio hoped to receive a reward from bail J.C. Mullins of Abingdon Bail Bonds, who had distributed a photo of a woman he had bonded out of jail and who had skipped a court appearance.

Contacted late Thursday, Mullins said, “I’m not ready to talk about it right now.“

Mullins was the subject of several recent Bristol Herald Courier stories that detailed how his son, a former magistrate named John C. “Tiny” Mullins III, falsified bail bond documents to hide questionable dealings between the two.

The father is now under investigation by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, which licenses bail bond businesses.

Tiny Mullins was fired from the magistrate’s office and is under investigation by a special prosecutor.

Crawford said Fitzwater, Herndon and Peters set out to find the girl shown in the picture.

“This girl [who was abducted], to me, they don’t even look alike,“ Crawford said.

The woman and her friend were pulled from their car and handcuffed in the park. Several hundred dollars were confiscated from the woman, who then was subjected to what the “arresting” group called a full-body cavity search for hidden drugs.

Police said the friend who was let go, also a woman, has not complained of being sexually assaulted.

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