Former chief has bond hearing

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff

Former Damascus Police Chief Tony Richardson tapped his foot while his two Roanoke-based lawyers, Melissa Friedman and Anthony Anderson, spoke on either side of him before his bond hearing last Wednesday.
His bond was increased from $20,000 to $200,000. His parents put up one parcel of land in Grayson County and two parcels of land in Marion, where he and his parents now live, to secure the bond.
Richardson’s bond also includes special conditions requiring him to live with his parents, preventing him from possessing firearms except in the presence of his father between Nov. 10 and Dec. 1 and that he cannot leave the state except to work.
Last Tuesday, the Washington County Grand Jury handed down four additional indictments bringing his charges up to 16, including a distribution of hydrocodone on May 21 and 23, a distribution of oxycodone on May 30, possessing a firearm while committing illegal distribution of methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine on June 12.
Richardson was arrested in June on drug distribution charges and fired as Damascus chief in July.
Anderson said all of Richardson’s charges would be tried together at his Feb. 27-29 trial unless things change.