Scheme To Release Inmate Using Forged Documents Fails, 3 Suspects Charged: Police

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Three people have been charged in connection with a scheme that attempted to use forged documents to release an inmate from a Loudoun County jail, police said Thursday.

Authorities claimed the scheme involved a forged judge's signature and a fake probation document.

Detectives with the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office opened an investigation in November 2021 after the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center's records section received a suspicious document, police said. The document was a faxed disposition for an inmate's release that purported to be from the Prince William County Clerk of the Circuit Court.

Officials determined the document was fake and a judge's signature had been forged for the document.

In December 2021, the Loudoun County Clerk of the Circuit Court received another forged document, according to the police report. The second forged document detailed an amended probation for the same inmate mentioned in the previous forgery. Again, officials determined the document was fake and a signature was forged.

After an investigation, the inmate, Deontre Thomas, was charged with several additional crimes. His charges include two counts of accessory to forge a public record, two counts of accessory to utter of public record, two counts of conspire with another to forge a public record, two counts of identity theft, and attempt to escape confinement or custody without force of a person lawfully confined in jail.

Arinicea Johnson, a woman from Capital Heights, Maryland, was also charged in connection with the scheme. She faces charges of forging a public record, uttering of a public record, identity theft, and attempt to escape confinement or custody without force of a person lawfully confined in jail

A second woman, who police identified as Ty Yonna N. Hopkins of Washington, D.C., was also charged with one county of accessory after the fact. Police claimed that Hopkins called the Prince William County Clerk of Circuit Court to inquire about the disposition sent to the Loudoun jail.

The two women turned themselves in on Wednesday, police said. Johnson is being held without bond at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center, while Hopkins was released on a personal recognizance bond.