Fairfax

The defendant was an immense man, well over 300 pounds, but in the gravity of his sorrow and shame he seemed larger still. He hunched forward in the sturdy wooden armchair that barely contained him, sobbing softly into tissue after tissue, a leg bouncing nervously under the table. In the first pew of spectators sat his wife, looking stricken, absently twisting her wedding band. The room was a sepulcher. Witnesses spoke softly of events so painful that many lost their composure. When a hospital emergency room nurse described how the defendant had behaved after the...

Two teenage boys were found guilty Thursday in Fairfax County Juvenile Court on felony charges related to surreptitiously producing cellphone videos of themselves engaged in drunken sex acts with teen girls. Judge Thomas P. Mann ordered each teen to perform 100 hours of community service and imposed 30-day suspended sentences. Mann said that if the two teens engage in a civic project to better the community, he would consider reducing the felony charges to misdemeanors. In April, the teenagers...

Dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, a bandana and a 40-pound, nickel-plated sousaphone wrapped around his midriff, Milton Jennings "Jay" Converse draws stares, smiles and more than a few honks as he marches down Braddock Road performing hits such as "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" on his tuba. Traffic is heavy as commuters head home from work, but many slow down to watch Converse play. Converse's nearly daily after-work march is part of his workout routine, but the 56-year-old has earned himself the status of a...

A 16-year-old West Springfield High School student was sentenced to three days in the juvenile detention center Wednesday for producing sexually explicit cellphone videos of drunken sex acts with other teens, according to a Fairfax County prosecutor. The teen was found guilty of felony unlawful filming charges in Fairfax County juvenile court in April. Prosecutors said the teen and his two best friends at West Springfield produced a series of six videos without the consent of the teen girls involved.

In Fairfax County, fleets of taxis, cement mixers and white construction vans with ladders strapped to the roofs can often be seen parked in residential subdivisions at night and on weekends. The vehicles are an eyesore, some say. As the affluent county has grown, so has the number of cars, trucks, trailers, campers and boats clogging secondary roads. On Monday, Fairfax tightened limits on where commercial vehicles, along with some extended-cab pickups, can be parked. A policy that clarifies which vehicles are banned...

A report of home sales listings was not available for today's Extra. They will resume as soon as possible.

Loudoun County supervisors are considering asking for a legal review of Fairfax County's plan to impose ambulance fees on the patients it picks up in Loudoun. Fairfax has a mutual aid agreement with Loudoun, meaning that the nearest available ambulance is dispatched when someone calls 911, even if it has to cross county lines. Most of the Loudoun emergency calls that Fairfax handles are in eastern Loudoun. Fairfax officials have announced that they plan to charge fees for transporting Loudoun patients, starting July 1. The fees...

The Fairfax County police officer who disappeared in the waters of Pohick Bay on Tuesday afternoon had volunteered to play the role of a "victim" during a training session for a helicopter water rescue, though he was not a member of the dive team, and he has been honored at least twice for his bravery in the line of duty. The missing officer is 2nd Lt. Francis J. Stecco, 42, a 19-year veteran of the Fairfax force, law enforcement sources said. Although boats, helicopters and divers scoured the water and land around the...

The Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously late last night to abandon a strict grading policy it has long upheld as a hallmark of high standards, after a year of intense pressure from parents who have argued that the policy hurts students' chances for college admission or scholarships. The School Board decided to move toward a more commonly used grading scale that parents have championed. The board also approved a plan to add extra points to the grade-point averages of students who take college level or honors classes.

The man slipped behind young women in some of Fairfax County's busiest shopping malls. He'd distract them, slash at their buttocks with a razor or box cutter, then dart off into the crowd. Fairfax police said they may finally have identified the mysterious slasher — but as of Wednesday evening, they had not found him. Johnny D. Guillen Pimentel, 40, may have fled the area weeks ago, police said. Guillen Pimentel, a former Fairfax resident, came to the United States from Peru eight or nine years...

The Alexandria City School Board is considering a plan to send students to Fairfax County's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, the prestigious magnet program for Northern Virginia's brightest teenagers . Alexandria, with more than 13,000 students, is the only system among districts in the region without students attending TJ, as the elite school is known. About 20 percent of TJ students come from Loudoun, Arlington and Prince William counties and Falls Church and...

The American Red Cross Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Blood Services Region needs youth volunteers to assist at blood drives. Volunteers can earn service learning hours. Responsibilities include greeting donors and giving them essential reading material and offering refreshments. A commitment of one to two blood drives per month is requested. 800-272-0094, Ext. 1; terryann.karloff@redcross.org . LEC, a French cultural exchange organization, needs host families for French students 14-19 for three weeks in July...

These sales data recorded by the Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration were provided by Lender Processing Services. For information about other residential real estate transactions, visit www.washingtonpost.com/ homesales . Fairfax County ALEXANDRIA AREA Paul St., 3609-Mohammad Zzaman and Mohammed S. Islam to Sebastian Chicas, $385,000. ALEXANDRIA-BELLE VIEW AREA Belle View Blvd., 1605, No. A1-Gary A. Miller to Michael J. Schweikart, $246,000.

Fairfax County These were among incidents reported by the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253. FAIR OAKS DISTRICT INDECENT EXPOSURE Centreview Dr., 3800 block, 10:15 p.m. May 31. A jogger saw a naked man on the path. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Chain Bridge Rd., 2500 block, 9:30 a.m. June 5. Jewelry was stolen from a business entered by forcing a rear door. Fair Lakes Shopping Center, 13000 block. An electronic device was stolen.

Thursday, June 13 Annandale spring carnival, games along the midway, rides and food. 5-11 p.m. Thursday, 4-midnight Friday and Sunday, noon-midnight Saturday, Kmart, front parking lot, 4251 John Marr Dr., Annandale. $2. 703-256-7232 or www.annandalechamber.com . Fairfax bingo, no smoking, dinner sold, sponsored by the Arlington-Fairfax Elks. Proceeds go to scholarships and other Elks Lodge charities. Doors open, 5:30 p.m; early bird bingo, 6:30 p.m.; regular bingo, 7:30 p.m., Mondays and Thursdays,...

Fairfax County The following incidents were reported by the Animal Control Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253. Dog bites man: May Hill Ct., 13000 block, 3:25 p.m. May 30. A dog bit a man, causing minor injuries. The pit bull terrier was placed under quarantine. Its owner, a 48-year-old Fairfax man, was charged with not having a dog license or a current vaccination. Fairfax City The following incidents were received from the animal control section of the Fairfax City Police...

The Fairfax County school system has dropped its effort to fire Violet Nichols, a veteran sixth-grade teacher who spent the past year fighting to keep her job after she was accused of incompetence. School system officials declined to be interviewed about the case. Schools spokesman John Torre wrote in an e-mail that the teacher's "future assignment is still being arranged. " The story of the attempt to dismiss Nichols, which appeared in The Washington Post in June, offers a glimpse into the murky business of judging teachers...