A firearm was found in a Longwood-registered vehicle in the Brock Commons parking garage on Nov. 5, according to a press release from Longwood University. The owner was identified as Amherst County resident Valerie Lynn Epling, also known as Valerie Lynn Tomlin, an administrative and office specialist in Facilities Management at Longwood University.
Epling had a sawed-off shotgun in her vehicle, possession of which is a class four felony. A warrant was obtained for Epling, and she was arrested by the Amherst County Sheriff's Department on November 6 for a felony possession of an illegal firearm.
"The discovery of the firearm in Ms. Epling's vehicle reflects very well upon the alertness and professionalism of the Longwood University Police Department," said Associate Vice President for Marketing & Communications at Longwood Dennis Sercombe.
"I do feel this speaks to the level of vigilance that the LUPD provides in its day to day efforts of keeping the Longwood community safe, and the level of professionalism displayed each and every day by our officers," said Longwood Police Chief Bob Beach.
He added, "One other point that I would like to make is the great amount of support that we received from our public safety partners at the local, state and federal level as we continue our processing of this incident. This too speaks of the level of professionalism of our officers as they smoothly interact with these partnering resources."
Beach explained that there would be a preliminary court hearing from Epling sometime in December at a date yet to be determined. He added the investigation of some elements of the case is still ongoing.
Longwood sent out this press release on Nov. 10 that stated, "A Longwood University employee was arrested on Saturday (11.6.10) following the discovery of a firearm in the employee's personal, Longwood-registered vehicle on Friday, (11.5.10) in the Brock Commons parking garage on campus. A Longwood University police officer noticed the firearm in the car after parking his police vehicle.
The employee was subsequently arrested by the Amherst Sheriff's Office for felony possession of an illegal firearm. This person is no longer working at Longwood University."
Members of the campus community are reminded that Longwood University Policy 7309 prohibits the possession of weapons on campus. For more information, go to:
http://www.longwood.edu/vpaf/final_policy_base/7000/7309.htm.
