Source: Office of United States Attorneys
LYNCHBURG, Va. – A Lynchburg, Virginia man, implicated in a series of incidents involving the illegal possession of a firearm and conspiring to access protected computer systems, pled guilty today to firearm and conspiracy charges.
Brendon Cole Webber, 28, was arrested in May 2024 for being a convicted felon illegally in possession of a firearm. Webber pled guilty today to one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon and two counts of conspiracy against the United States.
According to court documents, beginning in 2022, Webber was being supervised by the Lynchburg Community Corrections & Pretrial Services Department (LCCPS). In 2023, Jennifer Leigh Peters assumed the role of Acting Director of the LCCPS. Starting in approximately August 2023, Webber and Peters began a romantic relationship. Peters directly or indirectly supervised Webber’s probation throughout his LCCPS supervision. Peters, because of her role with LCCPS, had access to certain non-public, law enforcement materials, including the Lynchburg Police Department’s Records Management System (RMS). The RMS was a protected computer system that housed confidential non-public, law enforcement material.
Between November 11, 2023 and January 9, 2024, Webber and Peters conspired to have Webber access RMS information without authorization. Specifically, Peters provided Webber with access to non-public confidential material on RMS, and Webber disseminated that non-public information to others.
On November 30, 2023, Webber was charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm in violation of Virginia law and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Webber and Peters knew there was an active warrant for Webber’s arrest and knew there was an active U.S. Marshal’s fugitive manhunt for Webber’s apprehension.
Around December 19, 2023, at Webber’s instruction, Peters drove Webber from Lynchburg, Virginia to Hughestown, Pennsylvania with the purpose of obstructing the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive mission. Weber further directed Peters to book a hotel room during the drive. Webber was arrested in Hughestown, Pennsylvania on January 9, 2024.
Webber previously pled guilty to state charges of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice, as well as to unlawfully possessing a firearm.
According to court documents, law enforcement officers were flagged down by a citizen on Fifth Street in Lynchburg after the citizen reported seeing a man fall out of a moving vehicle then shoot a firearm in the direction of the same departing vehicle. The citizen told police the man who shot at the vehicle- ultimately identified as Webber- then ran toward the Family Dollar on Federal Street in downtown Lynchburg.
Two other individuals driving past the incident witnessed Webber fall out of the vehicle. Webber asked the witnesses for a ride and attempted to enter their vehicle as law enforcement arrived on scene. Police officers searched the vehicle and found a loaded 9 mm handgun, a white bag containing suspected methamphetamine, and a wallet belonging to an unidentified individual in the back seat where Webber had been sitting.
Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee and Stanley M. Meador, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division made the announcement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the City of Lynchburg Police Department are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Vito Iaia is prosecuting the case.