Norfolk official found in closed store

HUNTLY, Va. (WAVY) - Two years ago, a Norfolk public official went into a store with her assistant and conducted business, even though the front door was locked and there was no one inside to take her money.

Although the incident happened two years ago, WAVY.com found out about it through an anonymous letter sent to us on March 23, 2010. But despite the letter's unknown origin, the store's owner was more than willing to fill in the gaps.

The little country store is in Huntly, Va., located near Chester Gap. It sits on a country road on Route 522, just outside Front Royal.

If you blink, you might miss the Blue Ridge Grocery.

"It's heaven here," said Blue Ridge Owner Jack Sharp. "It's like being on vacation every day."

Sharp lives behind the store, and when he is not in the store, he locks the front door and turns off the lights. For him, the locked front door means the store is closed, even in the country.

"It's a big deal, whether you are in the country or the city you don't go into a residence or a business and take things," he said. "It's principle."

On August 11, 2008, Sharp caught someone leaving his closed store with items taken from inside.

"Out of the corner of my eye someone approached me from the left, and said 'I'm Sharon McDonald.'"

Sharon McDonald is Norfolk's Commissioner of Revenue.

"She said, 'We thought the store was open and we were hungry.' I said the store is not open, it's locked," Sharp said.

"So you still think this is a story?" McDonald asked when WAVY.com interviewed her for her side of the story.

She admitted she was in the store with her chief investigator and assistant William Neill. They took a picture of the Blue Ridge Grocery from that day showing the open sign which was on the side of the store.

"There was an open sign. There was a car in the driveway. There were barking dogs," she said. "There was movement in the house behind the store. I went into the store. I waited for somebody to come, and that's it."

Sharp said that's not quite "it." He thinks McDonald committed a crime.

McDonald wanted to be interviewed at the Quick Shop Convenient Store on Granby Street. She wanted to try to prove a point that the open sign on the Quick Shop means the store is open, whether on the door, or on the side of the building--like at the Blue Ridge Grocery that day.

"The sign says open," she said.

We told her that this was an odd comparison, because the front door of the Quick Shop was open and there was someone inside to help with any transactions. At the Blue Ridge Grocery that day in 2008, the front door was locked and there was no one there to take McDonald's money.

Sharp was actually at work, came home, and found McDonald leaving the store. Sharp's wife was in the house behind the store, but said she didn't know anyone was in the store. The Sharps say McDonald was breaking and entering their store and was trespassing too.

"There was no crime committed," said Rappahanock County Commonwealth's Attorney Peter Luke, "Technically she broke and entered, but I couldn't see where there was any criminal intent because she didn't damage anything. She didn't destroy anything. She paid for what she took, and so there was no intent of larceny."

McDonald also left behind a note with her calling card listing the items she took, including grape soda, a wooden train whistle, beef jerky, pringles, and blueberry preserves. She left behind $22 to cover the cost. Luke also does not agree with the trespassing charge because Sharp had not posted a "no trespassing sign."

Sharp sees it differently.

"I just thought she was using her power and authority to do whatever she felt like she wanted to do," he said.

Sharp was mad. He felt violated, and thought McDonald was blowing him off. Sharp then wrote letters to public officials, including then-Governor Tim Kaine, and the five vice presidents of the commissioner of the Revenue Association of Virginia.

At the time, McDonald was president of the association; and with all the letters, Sharp said nothing happened.

"This was not a pressing matter in my opinion," said McDonald, who also dismissed Sharp's concerns, saying she had "other things going on." However, under extreme political pressure due to Sharp's widespread complaints, McDonald returned to the Blue Ridge Grocery on Sept. 15, 2008 to apologize.

She then followed-up with a letter, where she admitted "The front door was locked, so we went around the back where we found the door open...after making our selection, we wrote an itemization and left sufficient cash."

But Sharp just had one nagging question: Why would McDonald--an elected public official--go into a store that was clearly closed, and then stay?

"I actually thought the sign was directing me to the rear of the store," she said. "When I went to the rear of the store the door was open."

Sharp, however, saw a discrepancy with this retelling of the incident. If that were true, he said, then why would McDonald go to the front door first, which was locked?

Sharp