WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Two current inmates at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail were charged with conspiracy to deliver drugs to prisoners, according to Colonel Roy Witham, the superintendent of the jail.
According to Witham, inmates John Mark Bellamy, Jr. and Paul Stephen Trites were part of a conspiracy to deliver drugs into the jail in early May 2022.
VPRJ investigators gathered and developed information on the conspiracy, then coordinated efforts with the Tri-Rivers Drug Task Force to execute two warrants on the inmates.
Bellamy was committed to VPRJ on September 22, 2021, and is currently serving a one-year sentence for a probation violation of grand larceny from the City of Poquoson and a six-month sentence from the City of Chesapeake for petit larceny. He was scheduled to complete his sentence obligation at VPRJ at the end of August 2022.
Trites was committed to VPRJ on October 7, 2021, and is pending in James City County Circuit Court for one count of possession of a Schedule I/II narcotic and in York County Circuit Court for one count each of obtaining money under false pretense and petit larceny. Trites has hearing dates scheduled for June 29, 2022 in James City County and July 12, 2022 in York County.
Additionally, both Bellamy and Trites will be arraigned on June 3, 2022 in James City County General District Court on the new warrants served today.
"I am thankful for the hard work and quick coordination of this investigation between VPRJ Investigators and members of the Tri-Rivers Drug Task Force," Witham said. "We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners in our unceasing efforts to prevent illicit drugs and other contraband from being introduced into the jail."
VPRJ anticipates additional arrests of individuals who are not current inmates at VPRJ as this investigation continues and will provide further updates as warranted.
