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I had trouble searching this article for "felony" (it does mention "judge") so here's the link from the article where the police argue complying could be the felony of violating Virginia Code 18.2-152.5:1 — “using a computer to gather identifying information.”

https://cardinalnews.org/2025/03/13/city-of-roanoke-botetour...

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What I find interesting is that they are claiming pictures of the vehicle are identifying information.

Additionally, it's bizarre because the journalist isn't using the computer to gather the information, the police are... and they are legally allowed to -- the code specifically says only law enforcement may do this while performing job duties.

So they are arguing that there's some sort of transitive property where law enforcement are no longer law enforcement performing job duties if they are acting on request from a journalist... or that the journalist is a mastermind in a felony because he is requesting to see his own records.

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