A Goochland County Grand Jury returned a number of indictments last week, including six felony counts and one misdemeanor against a highly-wanted man and a felony rape charge against a City of Richmond employee.

Irvin Leroy “Chubby” Martin, 46, was indicted on counts of breaking-and-entering with intent to commit rape; as well as rape, two counts of grand larceny, arson of a motor vehicle and forcible sodomy.
Martin allegedly beat a Goochland woman in her home on Feb. 5 and had been on the run for eight months.

Though he was originally charged with malicious wounding and attempted capital murder, the charges levied against him in the indictments last Tuesday will put him up against three possible sentences of life in prison.

Though his last confirmed whereabouts had been at a McDonald’s in Zion’s Crossroads days after the incident, within 24 hours of Martin’s profile and story airing on the long-running crime series “America’s Most Wanted,” he had been reported in both Oklahoma and Arkansas. There, authorities say he had assumed several aliases and laying low while working odd jobs.

Law enforcement officials in Van Buren, Ark. were on the lookout for a man whom a tipster believed to be Martin.

That’s when they pulled into the parking lot of a gas station located several blocks from the police station and noticed a suspicious person duck down in the back of a red Jeep Cherokee.

Initially attempting to identify himself as “Kevin Jenkins,” Martin’s fingerprints and photographs confirmed his true identity after authorities contacted the Goochland County Sheriff’s Office. At the time of his arrest, Martin was trying to secure passage to Texas.

After being held in Crawford County, Ark., Martin was extradited to Virginia on Oct. 12, where he now faces a laundry list of charges.

In addition to the six felony counts, he also still faces a misdemeanor assault-and-battery charge for which he was scheduled to be in court at the time that authorities allege he was in the process of committing other crimes.

Martin’s next court date is set for Dec. 20 at 9:30 a.m. when the matter of his legal counsel will be straightened out. Confusion prompted the delay last week.

Also indicted last week was 34-year-old Craig Allen Ferguson who is charged with committing rape by having sexual intercourse with a girl “when such act was accomplished through the use of the victim’s mental incapacity or physical helplessness.”

Ferguson was arrested in September in connection with the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

A resident of the 3200 block of River Road West, Ferguson was employed by the City of Richmond as a social worker with Child Protective Services at the time of his arrest. It’s alleged that he met the girl through outreach efforts in his capacity as a volunteer with the Goochland County Fire-Rescue department.

Authorities say the victim’s family contacted Fire-Rescue to ask whether or not the he was affiliated with the department.

According to Goochland Fire-Rescue officials, Ferguson did undergo a background check to become a volunteer fireman.

Richmond’s press secretary Linwood Norman confirmed in a press release that Ferguson was an employee and that he had been placed on leave without pay.

Ferguson’s next court date is scheduled for Feb. 8 at 9:30 a.m. when he will be arraigned.

If convicted, he could face life in prison, too.