Home Norfolk man convicted for rape while impersonating police officer sentenced to 20 years
Public Safety, Virginia

Norfolk man convicted for rape while impersonating police officer sentenced to 20 years

Crystal Graham
police
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A Norfolk man who abused his position as a security guard to force himself on a woman who had requested help was sentenced Friday to two decades in prison.

Jamir Hassan Wallace, 30, was sentenced in Norfolk Circuit Court for the February 2022 sexual assault.

According to court documents, Wallace was working for a third-party security guard service at a Norfolk grocery store when a woman reported her car had been stolen. Wallace told the victim he was a Norfolk Police officer working off duty. The victim arranged with dispatch to file a police report about the vehicle theft later that day.

After Wallace finished his shift, he contacted the victim claiming to have more information about her case. He went to the woman’s home and allegedly raped her.

Wallace left the victim’s home before actual Norfolk Police officers arrived to take her report about the stolen car. The victim, too shocked and afraid to tell the officers what just happened, reported the rape the following morning.

Norfolk Police arrested Wallace three days later at the grocery store. Recovered from his vehicle was the security outfit he wore during the assault.

Following a bench trial on Aug. 15, 2023, Judge David W. Lannetti found Wallace guilty of rape, forcible sodomy and impersonating a law enforcement officer.

On Friday, Judge Lannetti sentenced Wallace to 20 years in prison, with an additional 41 years suspended on the conditions that Wallace register as a sex offender, have no contact with the victim, be of uniform good behavior for 20 years and serve an indeterminate period of supervised probation upon his release from prison.

Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is the regional editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of Virginia Tonight, a nightly TV news show. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television.