Ammunition and drugs seized in arrest of Ridgeway man
Henry County, VA – On February 26, 2026, a Henry County Sheriff’s Office patrol deputy conducted a traffic stop on a silver Mercury Grand Marquis at the Travel Inn, located at 4520 Greensboro Road in Ridgeway, Virginia.
The driver was identified as Rodney La-Shan Kimona King. During the traffic stop, deputies began to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine if narcotics were present in the vehicle. As deputies began to utilize a Narcotics K9, Mr. King fled on foot. After a brief foot pursuit, deputies took Mr. King into custody without incident. During a subsequent search of the vehicle Mr. King had been operating, deputies located a large quantity of various types of ammunition. Deputies also determined that Mr. King was staying at the Travel Inn with his juvenile son.
Investigators later obtained and executed a search warrant for the room where Mr. King was staying. Inside the room, deputies located Mr. King’s juvenile son, as well as several small baggies containing suspected crack cocaine and other items consistent with the distribution of narcotics. Social Services were contacted and responded to the scene, where they took custody of the juvenile and placed him with another family member.
As a result of the investigation, Rodney La-Shay Kimona King, 50, of 6377 Soapstone Road, Ridgeway, Virginia, was charged with the following offenses:
Possession with Intent to Distribute (Code of Virginia §18.2-248)
Obstruction of Justice (Code of Virginia §18.2-460)
Possession of Ammunition by a Convicted Felon (Code of Virginia §18.2-308.2)
Mr. King is currently being held at the Henry County Adult Detention Center without bond.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Henry County Sheriff’s Office at 276-638-8751 or Crime Stoppers at 63-CRIME (632-7463). The Crime Stoppers Program offers rewards of up to $2,500 for information related to criminal activity. The nature of the crime and the value of the information provided determine the amount of the reward paid.
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.
