Editor's Note: Since the time of the story below, Jesse Sheckler was acquitted of all charges and a Charlottesville jury awarded him $10 million in compensation in a defamation suit against WVIR. The article below was posted on this website on May 28, 2003.

For more, see Index for Defamation Suit Against WVIR as Covered on Loper Website.

"Details of the arrest of a local man by federal drug enforcement agents that occurred sometime in the middle of March remain sketchy, but officials confirmed this week that a total of four arrests have been made in the case.

Jesse R. Sheckler, 49, of Stanardsville, and three other unidentified individuals were reportedly arrested by agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in conjunction with agents from the Charlottesville Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement (JADE) task force at the site of his business and home on Va. 622 in Greene County.

Sheckler has been charged with violating Title 21 of the United States Code Section 846, which is 'being a co-conspirator in a drug conspiracy,' according to U.S. Attorney Bruce Pagel of the U.S. District Court Western District of Virginia.

DEA agent Stan Burrows, who would not say whether or not he participated in the operation, referred all comments to Pagel, as did the U.S. District Court Clerk, officials from the office of Judge Waugh Crigler and the Greene County Sheriff's Department.

According to the U.S. District Court website, Crigler has presided in two court appearances by the Greene County man.

Sheckler was arraigned in U.S. District Court Western District of Virginia, based in Charlottesville, on March 20 and posted an undetermined sum for bail on March 30, according to the website. No other details were available.

'Here at the federal level, we don't talk about cases until they are tried,' said Pagel. '(Sheckler) was indicted in connection with a drug conspiracy. One indictment will include a forfeiture of property.'

The other indictments against Sheckler have been sealed, Pagel noted.

If convicted, Sheckler faces life in prison, a $4 million fine and forfeiture of all of his property, reported Pagel.

An inspection of Monday of the U.S. District Court schedule posted on the Internet indicated that no trial date had been set for either April or May" (Allen Browning, The Greene County Record, April 5, 2001).