Man Sentenced to 1 ½ Years After Flock Alert Led to Arrest for Stealing Car

NORFOLK, Va. — Andrew Sharrod Williams, 24, was sentenced on Monday to serve one year and six months in prison after he pleaded guilty to stealing an SUV — which police found the following day using the Flock license plate recognition system — as well as providing false information to police when he was arrested after he failed to appear in court.

On Jan. 10, 2024, Norfolk Police received a Flock notification that a 2013 Honda Pilot, which had been reported stolen out of Newport News the previous day, was being driven in Norfolk. Officers saw the Pilot on Interstate 264 and turned on their lights and sirens to initiate a traffic stop, but the driver, later identified as Mr. Williams, accelerated and began eluding the officers. Mr. Williams exited the interstate and continued driving onto Campostella Road before he hit a curb and crashed. Mr. Williams then tried to flee on foot before officers detained him.

As a result of that incident, police took Mr. Williams before a Norfolk magistrate and swore out a charge against him for felony grand larceny of an automobile. The magistrate, who is an independent judicial official, also granted Mr. Williams a $1,500 secured bond. On Feb. 29, 2024, Mr. Williams did not come to General District Court for a hearing on his grand larceny charge, and the judge issued an arrest warrant against him for failing to appear in court for a felony offense.

On Sept. 4, 2024, a Norfolk Police patrol officer pulled over a vehicle, in which Mr. Williams was a passenger, for a traffic infraction. When the officer asked for Mr. Williams’ identifying information, he provided someone else’s name and date of birth. When the officer checked that information, he determined that Mr. Williams had given a false identification. The officer detained Mr. Williams and, after Mr. Williams provided his actual information, arrested Mr. Williams on his warrant for failing to appear in court. The officer also charged Mr. Williams with providing false identification to avoid arrest, a misdemeanor.

In Circuit Court on Feb. 3, 2025, Mr. Williams pleaded guilty to those three charges and agreed to serve one year and six months in prison with another one year and six months suspended on the conditions that he be of uniform good behavior for three years and complete an indeterminate period of supervised probation. Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. accepted Mr. Williams’ plea agreement and sentenced him per the agreement. Mr. Williams’ sentence was within the range of the Virginia sentencing guidelines for his offenses.

“Technology, when used responsibly and legally, as it was here, is a game-changer for solving crimes like Mr. Williams’ while preserving the civil rights of people who have done nothing wrong and do not need to have unnecessary contact with the police,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Had Mr. Williams stopped for the officer and come to court, he would have faced less punishment. By trying to evade accountability, Mr. Williams earned himself more time.”

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Chandler W. Holcomb prosecuted Mr. Williams’ case, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Wm. Joshua Holder argued Mr. Williams’ plea agreement before the Court, and Norfolk Police Detective Johnson L. Freeman Jr. led the investigation.

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