The Henry County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division has arrested an individual in connection with an ongoing sexual assault investigation involving a juvenile victim.
A complaint was filed with the Henry County Sheriff’s Office alleging that between August 1, 2025, and August 31, 2025, Christopher William Roop, 43 years of age, engaged in sexual intercourse on multiple occasions with a 16-year-old juvenile by force, threat, or intimidation.
As a result of this ongoing investigation, Roop has been charged with two counts of Rape.
Roop is currently incarcerated at the Henry County Adult Detention Center with no bond.
Roop was an attorney in Henry County and was recently disbarred. Prior to being an attorney, he was a Virginia state trooper.
Due to the sensitive nature of this case and the age of the victim, no additional identifying information will be released at this time. The protection and privacy of victims, especially juveniles, remain a priority for the Henry County Sheriff’s Office.
This investigation remains ongoing. Additional charges are possible as investigators continue to review evidence and follow up on information received.
Anyone with information related to this case is encouraged to contact the Henry County Sheriff’s Office at 276-638-8751. Tips may also be submitted anonymously by texting HCSO followed by the tip information to 847411 or through Martinsville Henry County Crime Stoppers at 276-632-7463. Crime Stoppers offers rewards of up to 2,500 dollars for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, March 26, 2026. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Thursday insisted Iran is “begging to make a deal” to end the war amid seemingly tenuous indirect talks between the U.S. and Tehran.
“I mean, I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal. I’m not,” the president said during a meeting of his Cabinet at the White House.
“I’m the opposite of desperate, I don’t care … In fact, we have other targets we want to hit before we leave. We’re hitting them on a daily basis,” Trump added.
Trump also revealed the “very big present” from Iran he said earlier this week was a sign talks were progressing: 10 oil tankers were allowed safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
“I say they’re lousy fighters, but they’re great negotiators,” he said of the Iranians.
“And they are begging to work out a deal,” Trump said. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that. I don’t know if we’re willing to do that.”
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed during Thursday’s meeting that the U.S. presented Iran with a 15-point framework for a peace deal by way of Pakistan.
Witkoff did not provide any specifics on what is in the proposal, though sources previously told ABC News it addressed Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs as well as maritime routes.
“I can say this, we will see where things lead and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them other than more death and destruction,” Witkoff said. “We have strong signs that this is a possibility, and if a deal happens, it will be great for the country of Iran, for the entire region and the world at large.”
Iran responded to the plan through intermediaries overnight, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, which quoted an informed source. Reuters reported that according to a senior Iranian official, Iran’s initial response to the U.S. proposal was that it was “one-sided and unfair.”
The administration now ramping up pressure on Iran to agree to a diplomatic off-ramp.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned on Wednesday: “President Trump does not bluff, and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again.”
President Trump earlier Thursday told Iran to “get serious, before it is too late.”
The first indication of new talks came from President Trump on Monday, as he announced he was postponing major attacks he’d threatened on Iran’s energy infrastructure for five days — until Friday — due to what he said were “very strong talks.”
Trump was asked Thursday about the status of that deadline, and whether it would be pushed back.
“I don’t know yet. I don’t know,” Trump said. He later added, “And we have a lot of time. You know what? It’s a day. In Trump time, a day, you know what it is, that’s an eternity.”
Hours later, Trump posted on social media that he was pushing the deadline to April 6.
“As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time. Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” his post read.
Involved in negotiations are Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Trump.
Vance, during Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, emphasized the importance of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and warned that there are “further military options” possible.
The U.S. is continuing to send thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East, and the Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in supplemental funding as the conflict continues.
With the conflict in its fourth week, President Trump on Thursday continued to repeat the four-to-six-week timeline he estimated at the onset of the conflict and said the operation is “ahead of schedule.”
Trump said the war will “end soon” and once again referred to it as an “excursion” and a “little detour.”
Trump and his top officials have changed their rhetoric over the course of the conflict, first calling it a “war” but more recently calling it a “military operation.”
Trump acknowledged that inconsistency in remarks at the annual National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) dinner on Wednesday night. He said the change was because of concerns that Congress has not authorized military action.
“I won’t use the word war, because they say if you use the word war, that’s maybe not a good thing to do. They don’t like the word war because you’re supposed to get approval. So, I’ll use the word military operation, which is really what it is,” the president said.
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivers Democratic response to the 2026 State of the Union address by President Donald Trump, Feb. 24, 2026. (ABC News)
In her roughly 12-minute speech, delivered live in front of a crowd in colonial Williamsburg, Spanberger focused on affordability and made pointed remarks about Trump’s hardline immigration policies.
“Let me ask you, the American people watching at home, three questions,” Spanberger said. “Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? Is the president working to keep Americans safe both at home and abroad? Is the president working for you?”
Spanberger, who was inaugurated in January after serving three terms in the House of Representatives, hit on key issues of affordability, including lowering the persistently high costs of housing, health care, energy and groceries despite the Trump administration’s insistence that some of these costs have come down.
“Democrats across the country are laser focused on affordability in our nation’s capital and in state capitols and communities across America,” Spanberger said.
The daughter of a law enforcement officer and a nurse, Spanberger focused relentlessly on affordability throughout her 2025 gubernatorial campaign. Despite the economy being the top issue Trump ran on in the 2024 election, it’s been one of the issues he’s struggled with the most during his second term, as Americans still haven’t felt the “Trump boom” they were promised.
In an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, 57% of Americans disapprove of how Trump’s handling the economy, and 64% disapproved of how he’s handling tariffs on imported goods.
Spanberger, a former CIA officer, also criticized the Trump for his role on the world stage, saying he is contributing to greater worldwide uncertainty, saying, “Our president has endangered the long and storied history of the United States of America, being a force for good.”
A former federal law enforcement officer who worked on narcotics and money-laundering cases for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Spanberger also addressed what critics call the chaos caused by the Trump administration, which continues its immigration enforcement efforts that Americans are seeing in their communities.
“Our president has sent poorly trained federal agents into our cities where they have arrested and detained American citizens and people who aspire to be Americans,” Spanberger said in her speech. She referred to mothers being taken away from their babies and children — including “a little boy in a blue bunny hat” –being sent to “far-off detention centers.”
She added: “Our broken immigration system is something to be fixed not an excuse for unaccountable agents to terrorize our communities.”
The governor gave her speech live from Colonial Williamsburg, the restored 18th century capital where Virginian representatives voted for its delegation to Congress to propose independence for all 13 colonies from Great Britain, and later adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights — which influenced the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.
“In his speech tonight, the president did what he always does,” Spanberger said. He “lied, he scapegoated, and he distracted. And he offered no real solutions to our nation’s pressing challenges, so many of which he is actively making worse.”
There were at least two major counter events that several Democrats planned to attend, including MoveOn’s People’s State of the Union, which is promoting the participation of more than 20 members of Congress; and the “State of the Swamp” event by Defiance.org that features a handful of celebrities appearing by video or in person, such as Robert De Niro.
Spanberger prepared for her remarks by watching speeches other Democrats have delivered in response to Trump’s previous addresses to Congress.
(WASHINGTON) — An 11th hour plea from the prime minister of Pakistan appears to have swayed both President Donald Trump and the Iranian regime to agree to a two-week ceasefire deal in exchange for temporarily opening the Strait of Hormuz, at least temporarily staving off Trump’s promise to bomb Iran back to the “stone ages.”
With just hours to go until Trump’s 8 p.m. ET Tuesday deadline, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — one of the key mediators attempting to the end the conflict — issued a public call to Trump, urging him to allow more time for negotiations.
“Diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead to substantive results in near future,” Sharif said. “To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks.”
Sharif also implored Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz as a “goodwill gesture.”
Just after 6:30 p.m. ET, Trump posted on his social media platform that he would suspend military attacks.
“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two week,” he wrote.
“We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate,” Trump continued, referring to an Iranian counterproposal transmitted to negotiators after rejecting plans for a longer ceasefire on Monday. “Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two-week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated.”
Within the hour, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council claimed that the U.S. agreed to its plan which includes numerous concessions.
In a lengthy statement on Iranian state media, the council said the U.S. “committed in principle to non-aggression, continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, acceptance of enrichment, lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions.”
Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, said Iran would agree to a ceasefire if attacks against it are halted. He also said passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be allowed during the two-week period if coordinated with Iran’s armed forces.
The White House did not respond to specific questions Tuesday evening on whether the U.S. agreed to Iran’s 10-point plan — which includes lifting all primary and secondary sanctions and withdrawing combat troops from the region — or what it made of Iran saying the Strait of Hormuz would open with coordination from Iran’s military.
In response, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement:
“President Trump’s words speak for themselves: this is a workable basis to negotiate, and those negotiations will continue. The truth is that President Trump and our powerful military got Iran to agree to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and negotiations will continue.”
Despite Trump calling Iran’s counterproposal a “workable basis” for negotiations, it contains many terms the U.S. and the president himself have long rejected and was previously described by administration officials as “maximalist.”
After the two-week ceasefire was announced, mediators began making arrangements to hold the first round of talks following the implementation of the ceasefire on Friday in Islamabad, but the White House said late Tuesday that it had not yet committed to any plans.
Before Sharif’s proposal was made public, two U.S. officials cautioned that although talks showed signs of progress, the Trump administration and Iranian regime still appeared to be far apart on core issues, expressing doubt that a broad deal could be reached on such a tight timeline.
One U.S. official also said the dynamic proposed by Sharif mirrored confidence-building measures under discussion behind closed doors, but up until the president and Iranian authorities accepted the terms, it was unclear whether both sides could be brought on board.
Fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz is a top priority for U.S. officials, who indicated that any agreement with Iran would have to lead to near-immediate progress on that front.
Asked about the state of negotiations with Iran on Tuesday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hoped “to have more news” later in the day and called Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz “a big problem for the world.”
“The whole world’s been impacted unfortunately because Iran is violating every law known by striking commercial vessels in the Straits of Hormuz,” he said. “I mean this is a regime that doesn’t believe in laws, rules or anything like that — it’s a State Sponsor of Terrorism, so it’s not surprising that they’re now conducting terrorist activity against commercial vessels.”
Iran sees the strait as equally important and has signaled publicly and in private negotiations that it is highly reluctant to agree to any terms that would see it losing leverage over the waterway.
Iran’s counterproposal issued Monday stipulated that the country would fully open the Strait of Hormuz but set the rules for passage through the waterway and extract a toll of $2 million per vessel, a situation the Trump administration has repeatedly said would be untenable.
