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Operation Ceasefire: Chesapeake man sentenced to 50 months for illegal gun possession

Rebecca Barnabi
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As part of Virginia Operation Ceasefire, a Chesapeake man was sentenced to 50 months in prison for illegally possessing multiple firearms as a convicted felon.

On June 6, 2021, Christopher Lee Alexander, 34, was driving a vehicle in Chesapeake in the early morning hours when a Chesapeake police officer, who was responding to an unrelated matter, approached Alexander’s vehicle from behind. Mistakenly believing that the police car was attempting to pull his vehicle over, Alexander accelerated his vehicle to a high rate of speed in an attempt to flee. Alexander lost control of his vehicle, sideswiped a power pole and came to rest in a business’ parking lot. Alexander then attempted to flee the scene on foot. Chesapeake police officers were able to apprehend Alexander after a foot chase and, when they returned to the vehicle that the defendant was driving, they found two firearms in plain view laying on the driver’s side floorboard. Alexander admitted to police officers that he was attempting to flee because he knew that he was a convicted felon in possession of the firearms in the vehicle.

Alexander had previously been convicted of numerous felony offenses, including robbery, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, conspiracy to commit robbery, wearing a mask in public while committing robbery, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was also subsequently convicted of an unrelated felony eluding charge that was pending at the time he committed this offense.

“In order to keep our communities safe, we have to keep the repeat offenders committing the vast majority of violent crime off our streets. I’m grateful for our partnership with local and federal agencies, allowing our Ceasefire prosecutors to focus on high crime cities and produce successful prosecutions like this,” said Attorney General Jason Miyares.

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca Barnabi

Rebecca J. Barnabi is the national editor of Augusta Free Press. A graduate of the University of Mary Washington, she began her journalism career at The Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star. In 2013, she was awarded first place for feature writing in the Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia Awards Program, and was honored by the Virginia School Boards Association’s 2019 Media Honor Roll Program for her coverage of Waynesboro Schools. Her background in newspapers includes writing about features, local government, education and the arts.