RICHMOND, Va. -- The second of two men accused by Richmond’s police chief of planning a mass shooting has now been indicted by a federal grand jury. But nothing in the latest court filings mentions a plot.
Julio Cesar Alvarado-Dubon is charged with one count of possession of a firearm by one illegally and unlawfully in the United States, according to the indictment, which was filed Tuesday in Virginia Eastern District Court.
“Clearly, they do not have evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a plan to commit a mass shooting,” said Todd Stone, legal analyst for CBS 6. “If they did, you’d expect to see a different charge altogether.”
An arrest warrant has been issued as a detainer, though Alvarado-Dubon is already locked up at Pamunkey Regional Jail.
Last month, RPD Chief Gerald Smith and Mayor Levar Stoney announced that, based on a tip, Alvarado-Dubon and Rolman Balcarcel-Bavagas, both Guatemalan citizens, had been arrested, accused of plotting to perpetrate a mass shooting on the Fourth of July. Smith later identified the target as Dogwood Dell.
But neither man ever faced state charges related to a shooting plot, only possession of a firearm by a non-U.S. citizen. And on August 3rd, when questioned by Richmond Judge David Hicks, a prosecutor said they had no evidence of a planned attack at any specific location.
Hicks then dismissed the state charges, and federal prosecutors have taken over the cases.
News of Alvarado-Dubon’s indictment comes one day after we learned that a plea agreement hearing has been scheduled in the case against Balcarcel-Bavagas. Earlier this month, a federal grand jury indicted him on a single charge of illegal reentry.
That plea hearing is scheduled for August 25.
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