An FBI agent accused of shooting and killing a neighbor in Stafford County, Virginia, was convicted of two misdemeanors and will not spend any time in jail.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said Special Agent Benjamin Spinale shot and killed military veteran Jason Chamberlain in the middle of the street in February. Deputies called Chamberlain a hero for helping law enforcement right before he was shot.
Spinale was never charged for shooting Chamberlain, but he faced four misdemeanor charges for allegedly pulling his gun on his neighbors.
Prosecutors said he previously pulled a gun on a puppy and a group of teens.
The county prosecutor said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Spinale in the killing, despite being surrounded by sheriff’s deputies at the time.
Spinale recently accepted a plea deal in which prosecutors dropped two misdemeanor charges against him. He plead no contest to two other charges. Spinale won’t serve any time in jail as part of the deal.
The plea deal stipulates that Spinale cannot have a personal firearm, but it doesn’t bar him from having one at work.
Chamberlain’s family told News4 the first judge to hear the plea agreement called Spinale a vigilante and said he shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun in any capacity. But the another judge accepted the agreement, according to the family.
The FBI opened its own investigation into Spinale, who has been a special agent for about 13 years, the agency previously told News4.
News4 reached out to the FBI to check on the status of its investigation into Spinale and to ask if he’s still employed there. We received an automated response saying the FBI’s public affairs office was only responding to certain issues because of the government shutdown.
Spinale’s attorney has not responded to News4’s request for comment.
A confrontation over a teen on a dirt bike
The incident on Feb. 28 began when Spinale, who was off-duty at the time, got into an altercation with a young man named Nico Vazquez, who was riding his dirt bike down the street.
Spinale drew his gun, stepped into the road and pointed the gun at Vazquez, prosecutors said in court documents. Vasquez passed him but hit a dead end and had to go back past Spinale, who was still in the street. Court documents say Spinale again pointed his gun at him.
After Vasquez told his father and brother that a man had pulled a gun on him, the three of them went back to the area to find out the name of the street so they could report the incident to police, the father later told News4.
But as they were pulling up, Vasquez’s father said, a Stafford County deputy stopped them and started questioning them. The father said during the questioning, a man in plain clothes stood behind the deputy with a gun pointed at them, escalating the situation.
Police said while they were interacting with the young man’s family, Chamberlain got involved and the off-duty agent shot him.
Spinale was charged with two misdemeanor counts of brandishing a firearm for the part of the incident involving Vazquez.
As news of Chamberlain’s death spread through the community, other neighbors came forward to report similar incidents in the past.
Prosecutors told the court that, in October, a man opened his front door early one morning to pick up a package from his porch. The family’s Labrador retriever puppy ran through the open door and onto the street. Doorbell camera video shows the puppy approaching Spinale, who was walking his two beagles, prosecutors said.
Video shows Spinale pulling a gun from his right hip and pointing it at the puppy and the homeowner, who tried to deescalate the situation, prosecutors said.
Spinale’s defense attorney claimed the puppy was acting aggressively.
In another case, in February, prosecutors said three teens were driving as Spinale walked his dogs on the sidewalk. He saw them, pointed a gun at the car and yelled something as they drove off.
Spinale’s attorney claimed the FBI agent didn’t draw his gun but did pull back his coat to show his badge. The lawyer said he yelled at the teens to slow down.
Prosecutors said they looked at evidence from the vehicle’s electronic recording devices and found the driver was going 23 mph in a 25 mph zone.
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