Michael Wayne Edwards Jr., the Centreville man charged with filming women without their consent in the South Lakes Safeway, was found guilty by a Fairfax County District Court judge on several of the charges Friday.
Edwards, who was employed as a trainer at a nearby Reston gym at the time of his arrest, was charged in August and September for two incidents here.
The first incident was July 24, where the victim said she was in the South Lakes Safeway and felt someone someone bump her and then touch her underneath clothing while she was in the store.
The other incident was Aug. 5. In that incident, a woman said Edwards followed her as she shopped at Safeway, and then followed her down Sunrise Valley Drive as she returned to work. He also exposed himself, the woman said.
In the two cases, Edwards was charged with stalking, indecent exposure, filming a person without their consent (three charges) and simulated masturbation. He was released on $2,500 bond last summer.
In court Friday, Judge Ian O’Flaherty dismissed three of the charges and found him guilty of two of the filming charges and the simulated masturbation charge.
O’Flaherty sentenced Edwards to one-year supervised probation and six months in jail.
However, Edwards’ attorney, Jennifer Raimo, immediately appealed the sentence. When that happens, the defendant can remain free on bond while the case is revisited in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
Raimo had no comment on the case.
This is not the first time Edwards has been accused of a sexually related crime. In 2010, he was charged with several accounts of second-degree assault after he squirted semen from a bottle on women as they exited a Giant and Michael’s craft stores in Gaithersburg, Md.
Edwards pled guilty to one of those charges (the rest were dropped as part of the plea deal). He was fined $500 and given a three-year suspended jail sentence, Montgomery County records show. His probation period ended in June 2014.
Photo: Michael Wayne Edwards, Sept. 6 booking photo/FCPD
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