Charlottesville Police announce arrest in rape reported in homeless encampment

Charlottesville Police have a suspect in custody in connection with the reported July 9 sexual assault in the Free Bridge encampment.

Michael Shaft Brewington, 48, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with aggravated sexual battery.

“Every member of our community deserves to feel safe, and that includes our unhoused neighbors,” Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis said, per a release from the city PD. “This arrest reflects our commitment to ensuring that those living unsheltered receive the same level of protection, respect, and diligent investigative effort as anyone else in Charlottesville.”

Kochis was named in a lawsuit filed by a city resident last week accusing the police department of failing to enforce trespassing laws at the encampment, which is home to an estimated 80 unhoused people in an area in a section of a public park located along the Rivanna River.

The suit, filed hours before the reported rape in the encampment, says the encampment “poses a threat to public safety and health” – listing the causes of that threat as “sewage produced by the encampment, dirty needles left by individuals in the encampment, and violence for the homeless.”

The Free Bridge encampment has been a community focus since the encampment began to form over the past year.

Charlottesville City Council voted last year to purchase a former hotel for $6.25 million with plans to convert the space into a low-barrier shelter for the unhoused.

The plans are coming along at a glacial pace, though, it appears.

The latest word on the shelter plans is that city staff and representatives of community groups that work with the unhoused are hoping to have a meeting of the minds in August to discuss next steps.

In the meantime, a 57-year-old homeless man was found dead in a tent last month, and in May, another man’s tent burned down.

And now, more recently, this reported sexual assault.

Anyone with information related to the July 9 incident is encouraged to contact Detective J.L. Houchens at (434) 970-3676 or Crime Stoppers at (434) 977-4000.