Leroy Hobson - Repeat Sex Offender

"25% of sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.....says Sarah Tofte

On February 25, 2008 shortly after 5 p.m., a Lexington police officer was involved in a shooting while investigating a complaint of a subject for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Police have charged 24 year-old Leroy Hobson of 1566 Ballsville Road, Powhatan, Virginia with the following offenses: possession of a loaded weapon, brandishing a firearm, felony assault on a police officer, possession of a firearm after being convicted of a violent crime, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and attempted capital murder.

Lexington Police Chief Steve Crowder said that while being confronted by police, Hobson jumped out an apartment window located at 308 McLaughlin Street carrying a rifle.

After a short foot pursuit, Hobson fell, dropping the gun. The suspect then got up, retrieved the weapon and turned toward the officer, and after refusing to stop and drop his weapon, the officer fired his weapon at the suspect. It was unclear at the scene if the suspect had been shot or was injured when he fell down an embankment into a creek near the law offices of Tommy Spencer and Lee Taylor.

Hobson was taken into custody and transported to Stonewall Jackson Hospital where he was treated for a head injury, and it was later determined that he was not struck by the officer's bullets.

Lexington Police are now conducting an internal review after the incident, part of its procedures in such cases. The officer who fired at the suspect will not be identified until the internal review is completed, said Crowder.

Hobson was recently released from prison, is registered in Virginia as a Violent Sex Offender, and is now being held without bond at the Rockbridge Regional Jail.

He is no stranger to law enforcement. On July 30, 2001, he was convicted of forcible sodomy in Powhatan Circuit Court. Prior to that time he was employed as a construction worker with J. Williams Constructin Company in Cumberland, Virginia.