Charge amended for former deputy

A former Campbell and Bedford County sheriff’s deputy who had appealed a stalking conviction in May pleaded guilty Thursday to an amended charge.

Rodney Lewis Thompson, 35, pleaded guilty to use of profane, threatening or indecent language over public airways in Lynchburg Circuit Court. The charge related to a woman with whom he had had an off-again-on-again relationship for seven years.

The charge is a class 1 misdemeanor — the same class as the May stalking conviction, which has been replaced now with the amended charge. The punishment also is the same.

Thompson’s attorney, Joseph Sanzone, said the original conviction of stalking wasn’t appropriate for the circumstances of the case.

“It was a long, involved case that dealt with a statute ill-suited to the conduct we are dealing with,” Sanzone said. “The nature of the charge is important. …

“This case gave everyone an education. The parties were not disengaged but constantly in touch with each other through a monsoon of phone calls and text messages.”

Thompson was released for time served Thursday after Judge J. Leyburn Mosby sentenced him to 12 months in prison with all but four months suspended. He must remain on supervised probation for 12 months and on good behavior for five years.

Other terms of his sentence and protective order include having no contact with the victim or her family. He also never can seek or obtain employment in law enforcement or own a firearm.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Doucette said after Thursday’s hearing that stalking and the telephone misuse charge are the same class of misdemeanor punishable by the same sentence. Essentially, while the charge Thompson was convicted of changed, his punishment stayed virtually the same, Doucette said.

In a news release issued after the hearing, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jennifer Bennett said evidence was presented at the May trial indicating that Thompson was “engaged in several stalking behaviors since February 2009,” including multiple threatening and profane text messages.

“Among these, Thompson admitted to watching the victim and keeping a log of people that went in and out of her workplace, following her throughout the City and surrounding counties, showing up uninvited as she ran errands, and confronting male customers at the victim’s workplace,” the release stated.

An additional charge of stalking filed earlier in Campbell County also was amended, with the same penalty as the Lynchburg case, Sanzone said.

Thompson most recently worked for the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office as part of the Central Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force known locally as Operation Blue Ridge Thunder.

He was awarded medals from local, state and national law enforcement organizations. According to a Central Virginia Community College speaker’s biography, he was a runner-up for the National Deputy of the Year in 1999.

As recently as last year, he received an award from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia for his work in computer crimes for Bedford County. According to the same speaker’s bio, Thompson moved from Campbell County to Bedford County’s sheriff’s office in 2003. His employment there ended in 2008.