A wild ride through the system

The Waynesboro man charged with attempted murder and arrested in Arizona this week repeatedly committed crimes, begged authorities for mercy and then landed behind bars again, according to court records.

A city prosecutor dropped probation violation charges against Arthur T. Allen last year that could have brought down more than a dozen years of previously suspended jail time. Instead, Allen, 28, walked free in February, took a bullet to the foot and now is accused of firing gunshots at a car with women and children inside at the 7-Eleven in Fishersville.

Court records show a pattern for Allen: arrest, conviction, plea for reduced jail time, brief freedom and more trouble.

Yet authorities investigating drug cases in 2008 turned to Allen as an informant, according to court records and letters he wrote to a judge.

Allen described himself in his hand-written letters as the informant who helped police during a yearlong investigation that led to 28 drug arrests in October 2008. He said he was promised reduced jail time and dropped probation violation charges in exchange for his help. Authorities refused to identify Allen as the informant in that case.

Shortly after the arrests, Waynesboro Commonwealth’s Attorney Charles Ajemian dropped charges against 15 defendants, citing an untrustworthy informant.

Ajemian this week said there was a “good chance” Allen worked with authorities in exchange for dropped probation violation charges but he could not recall the details of Allen’s case.

A man well-known on Waynesboro streets, Allen most recently served time for assaulting a woman.

Allen last month was shot at 260 N. Commerce Ave. in Waynesboro. Augusta County authorities questioned him immediately after the 7-Eleven shooting earlier this month, but lacked sufficient evidence to hold him. They filed the attempted murder charges several days later. Unable to track Allen down, authorities declared him a fugitive.

He was arrested Sunday in Phoenix, where police said he leapt from a third-story window and broke bones in his neck.

Area prosecutors are awaiting his return while news of his police encounters drum up talk in his former neighborhoods.

“I cared to death for him,” said ex-girlfriend Bonni Shaver, 24. “I did not want to see him on the paper jumping out a third-floor window.

“He’s very intelligent. But he’s got that prison mentality ... I guess he’d just rather live the street life.”

‘Shocking’ record

Allen’s life of crime started at 14, with a rape charge later reduced to aggravated sexual battery and forcible sodomy, according to a 2003 court transcript.

Allen was released from the Department of Juvenile Justice in 2000 and picked up his first adult charge within six months.

In March 2002 he stole a woman’s credit card. In June he stole a Ford Expedition parked behind Basic City Luncheonette and crashed it in Nelson County.

Allen asked for his sentence to be reduced on the credit card theft, saying he wanted to care for his son.

“I’ve learned my lesson your honor,” he wrote.

The judge refused to reduce Allen’s sentence.

During sentencing in July 2003, Allen spoke of earning a GED and getting involved in ministry while jailed and said he wanted to “be there for my son,” who was 2 at the time. Allen blamed heavy drinking for his car theft.

On cross-examination, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney David Ledbetter marched Allen through his “somewhat shocking” record and called him a “Category One” offender.

Allen blamed alcohol again.

After spending four years in a state prison, from March 2003 to May 2007, Allen was free for about a month when he assaulted another woman and went back into Middle River Regional Jail to await hearings, records show.

He made bail again but picked up new charges in late 2007, felony larceny, for stealing two cans of Red Bull at a convenience store.

Shaver began dating Allen that year, she said.

He came across as sincere and respectful of elders, she said.

Many people who said they knew Allen declined to speak about their personal involvement with him, but described him as genial one moment and someone who would “blow up” the next.

Shaver said the same.

“Something could click from the past or something and set him in a bad mood,” Shaver said.

“A lot drinking came into play,” she added.

Another ex-girlfriend agreed.

Back in jail after theft and drug convictions in early 2008, Allen wrote in a letter to a judge that he got in touch with drug detectives.

Operation falls short

Allen began work in March 2008 in what police later referred to as “Operation Crackdown,” according to a letter he wrote last year to Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr.

The deal, he wrote: Help in cases in exchange for reduced jail time and dropped charges. Allen wrote that he had an explanation ready upon his release: He had a broken jaw that needed dental work, he would tell friends.

“I was finally doing something good [Helping get drug dealers off the street],” he wrote.

Allen claims to have helped police on 16 cases. He lists suspects in his letter, sometimes using nicknames or referring to some for how he knew them: “a friend of my sister,” for example.

Police issued dozens of arrest warrants on Oct. 14, 2008, and began rounding up suspected drug dealers, including those named in Allen’s letter.

A short time later, authorities announced they had dismissed charges against 15 of 28 suspects, a move that shattered much of the year-long investigation.

Ajemian and police officials said one informant’s credibility came into question in a separate investigation and that the informant “fell apart” when questioned.

The freed suspects said they were wrongfully targeted in a reputation-smearing bust that cost them bond money and attorney fees.

“I think he’s crazy,” said Jeremy Lionel Barber, of Waynesboro, whom police arrested with Allen’s help, according to Allen’s letter.

Authorities dropped charges against Barber, who said he thinks Allen held a grudge against him over a woman.

Waynesboro police Sgt. Kelly Walker declined to discuss Allen. He said detectives usually try to test informants’ credibility before putting them to work.

“Most of the people who are used as informants do have criminal records,” Walker said.

“I put my life on the line for over six months by trying and helping put some drug dealers in jail,” Allen claimed in one of his letters. “I am still willing to testify against every last one.”

Shaver said she went through hell when Allen’s name blew through the streets as an informant. She said her windows were shattered and “snitch” was written on her children’s Halloween pumpkins.

Back on the street

Last year, Ajemian, the Waynesboro prosecutor, dismissed three probation violations against Allen.

“It may have been because he did something for us, but I can’t remember specifically,” Ajemian said.

A court order states the prosecutor moved to dismiss the charges “for reasons stated on the record.” The audio recording of that hearing no longer exists because tapes are discarded when cases can no longer be appealed, court clerks said.

Defense attorney William Little, who handled a probation violation at a September hearing, said only that lawyers “came to an agreement about [the charge].”

In October, Allen was still in jail seeking an early release. He again wrote to Judge Franklin, this time asking to be home with his family for Christmas.

“Sir I will never be seen in your courtroom again,” Allen wrote.

To date, Allen has upheld that promise. His latest charges will be heard in Augusta County court and Phoenix.

Franklin refused to release Allen early. Allen walked out of jail Feb. 16.

Two months later, police named him as the victim in the shooting on North Commerce. A month after that, on May 7, Allen stepped out from behind Dumpsters at 7-Eleven in Fishersville and blasted away at a car, police said.

After authorities issued a warrant for his arrest, police said Allen fled. Authorities said Allen robbed a liquor store and a hotel in Arizona before he was injured in the fall. Police snagged him, discovered his wanted status in Virginia and threw him in a desert jail.

Shaver said she has steered clear of Allen this year.

“Deceitful and caring, all wrapped up into one,” she said.

Recent violence involving Allen likely dates back to his work with Waynesboro police, Shaver said.

“He doesn’t realize all the people he’s hurt,” she said.

As Allen recovers from his fall and awaits prosecution in Arizona, authorities 2,000 miles away said they don’t know when he’ll return home.

“These people out here,” Shaver said, “haven’t forgotten.”