Tsouroutis found guilty in gun case

by April Taylor
Published: May 1, 2008

Former Greene County deputy Leftery N. “Terry” Tsouroutis was found guilty in Greene County Circuit Court on Friday, April 25, of knowingly selling/giving a convicted felon a firearm.
Tsouroutis was represented by J. Lloyd Snook III. George S. Webb III, Commonwealth Attorney in Madison County, was the prosecutor, filling in for Greene’s Commonwealth Attorney Ronald Morris who recused himself from the case.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 4.
The former Greene County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant was sentenced on separate in March in Charlottesville to serve 27 months in a federal prison for violating the Mann Act and making false statements to FBI agents.  Tsouroutis admitted in federal court that he transported a 19-year-old state prisoner across state lines for the purpose of engaging her in prostitution. He also admitted to making false statements to FBI agents.
Tsouroutis’ appearance in Greene’s circuit court on Friday stems from a situation in 2001 when Tsouroutis, a deputy in Greene at the time, approached Earl “Ray” Reynolds, Jr., about doing some bumper work on his Jeep. 
Both Reynolds and his ex-wife, Julie Hoover, testified on Friday that Tsouroutis, citing financial pressures, suggested that Reynolds perform the work in exchange for cash and a 9 mm gun.
Reynolds is a four-time felon first convicted as a teenager back in 1983 for stealing tires.
“ I explained to Terry that I had a felony and wasn’t allowed (a gun),” Reynolds testified on Friday. “He said he would check on that and get back to me.”
Hoover said that Tsouroutis later came to their house on Advance Mills Road and told them “Ray’s criminal record was gone.”
“He said there was no record, that it was grand fathered in,” said Hoover. At one point, she said, “We thought everything was hunky-dory.”
But Tsouroutis has claimed that he never knew that Reynolds was a felon.  Both he and his ex-wife, who testified on Friday, said it was Reynolds who suggested a firearm trade.
In 2005, following a domestic assault complaint lodged by a girlfriend, roughly 13 guns were found in Reynolds’ possession. At that time, he told police that he had the guns because Tsouroutis had said it was okay.
But Snook attacked Reynolds’ version of the story.
“Reynolds gave this story (in exchange) for a dropped charge,” said Snook in his closing argument.
At one point, Snook told Reynolds: “You knew you were in big trouble. Your attorney went to the Commonwealth and negotiated to reduce to a misdemeanor.”
Snook suggested that Reynolds was attempting to make up a defense by saying that he was “relying on a police officer.”
But in his ruling, Judge John R. Cullen of the Culpeper County Circuit Court said the state had proved its case.
The former deputy, a heavy-built man with clean-shaven hair and eyeglasses, appeared calm in his gray suit as he heard Cullen’s decision.
Tsouroutis, who no longer lives in Greene, is free on bond and is expected to return to Circuit Court here on June 4 for sentencing. He is awaiting assignment to a federal prison.