Skipwith Convicted of Attempted B&E

Staff Report

Ramir Alfonso Skipwith, a 28-year-old Rehoboth man, was convicted of Attempted Breaking and Entering after failing to successfully complete a probationary period on a diversion opportunity recently in Lunenburg Circuit Court.

In April of this year, Skipwith stipulated to evidence that was sufficient to find him guilty of an attempted break-in and damaging property for an incident that occurred on January 1, 2016 during a drunken episode, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Clement.

Skipwith was to successfully complete an inpatient residential program for substance abuse as well as other conditions such as good behavior, supervised probation, and restitution of $1369.57 to the property owner.  He was also to abstain from and not possess alcohol and any illegal drugs.

If he had complied, the felony charge would have been reduced to a misdemeanor Trespassing. Unfortunately, said Clement, Mr. Skipwith tested positive for cocaine in June, delayed entry into the residential program, and then after he entered got kicked out of the program because of alcohol use. He also failed to make any monthly restitution payments.

As a result, the court found the defendant guilty of the felony of Attempted Burglary and the misdemeanor of Damaging Property and sentenced him to five years with all suspended except 60 days in jail on the Attempted Burglary and 12 months suspended on the misdemeanor.

In addition to his active sentence, Skipwith must also be of good behavior for ten years, on supervised probation for one year, warrantless searches and seizures, no contact with the victim, and pay restitution.