False I.D. Leads to More Charges in Hit and Run

By WYDaily Staff Thursday, April 29, 2010

A Williamsburg man is being held on several additional felony charges after pretending to be someone else when charged with a hit and run earlier this month on the Colonial Parkway.

York County sheriff's deputies arrested 26-year-old Edward Steedley of Domino Street in the city on April 11. According to a press release, Steedley had been involved in an accident around 8:30 a.m. that day. Sheriff's spokesman and Deputy First Class Mike Russell said reports seemed to indicate the accident had the marks of road rage.

When deputies arrested him, Steedley produced a government-issued I.D. with another man's name on it. County investigators realized the deception when Steedley was fingerprinted at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, where he is currently being held.

A records check showed Steedley, once identified properly, was wanted on other charges.

He now faces the following charges: felony identity fraud; felony hit and run; felony eluding law enforcement; felony shooting or throwing missles at an occupied vehicle; misdemeanor DUI; misdemeanor reckless driving; misdemeanor refusal to take a blood or breath test; and misdemeanor aggressive driving.

Russell said sheriff's officials are working with the man whose identity Steedley assumed to clear his police record. The county's crime prevention unit was also helping the man to take "identity theft recovery measures," steps to determine whether his identity had been misused in other instances.