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COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges O’Brien, Causey and Frucci
Argued at Virginia Beach, Virginia
ROBERT FRANCIS JONES
MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY
v. Record No. 1967-24-1 JUDGE MARY GRACE O’BRIEN
JANUARY 6, 2026
STEVE R. DREW, CHIEF, ET AL.
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT NEWS
James C. Hawks, Judge Designate
Brenda L. Page (Alan F. Duckworth; Douglass A. A. James;
Verbena M. Askew; Page Law Firm, P.C.; The Verbena Askew Law
Firm, P.C., on briefs), for appellant.
Ahmed E. Mohamed Khalil; Darlene P. Bradberry, Chief Deputy
City Attorney (Mark A. Short; Christopher R. Hedrick; James A.
Cales III; Kaufman & Canoles, P.C.; Mason, Mason, Walker &
Hedrick, P.C.; Furniss, Davis, Rashkind and Saunders, P.C., on
briefs), for appellees.
Former Newport News police officer, Robert Francis Jones (appellant), appeals the
dismissal of his malicious prosecution suit against four members of his department: Chief of
Police Steve Drew, Detective Kathryn Riley, Lieutenant Shawnalea Ross, and Lieutenant
Charles Howser (collectively, the appellees). Appellant alleged that the appellees caused him to
be charged with multiple sex crimes without probable cause. The court sustained Lieutenant
Howser’s demurrer and granted the other appellees’ pleas in bar, holding that the pleadings—
amplified by the record from the underlying criminal proceedings—established probable cause
as a matter of law.
* This opinion is not designated for publication. See Code § 17.1-413(A).
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