Jury Convicts Man of Felony, Misdemeanor Vandalism After Ocean View Neighbor’s Doorbell Video Showed Him Defacing Her Cars
NORFOLK, Va. — A jury convicted Daniel Lee Bonnell, 69, on Wednesday of both felony and misdemeanor vandalism after his longtime Ocean View neighbor, on the suspicion that Mr. Bonnell had been behaving nefariously on her property, bought a doorbell camera which recorded Mr. Bonnell defacing her cars.
The victim, who is about the same age as Mr. Bonnell and who has since moved, testified at trial that Mr. Bonnell had been bothering her and that, as a result, she purchased a doorbell camera for security. Footage from the camera showed that Mr. Bonnell had been suspiciously walking around her yard and house, and the victim banned Mr. Bonnell from her property on penalty of being charged with trespassing. Mr. Bonnell continued to trespass her property, and the camera footage showed Mr. Bonnell committing the following crimes.
On Jan. 23, 2024, Mr. Bonnell walked over to one of the victim’s cars that was parked on the street in front of her house, he knelt down by the rear passenger-side tire, and he drove a nail through it, causing the tire to flatten. When the victim next saw her car and the flat tire, she noticed the nail, checked her camera footage, and identified Mr. Bonnell tampering with her tire.
On Feb. 29, 2024, Mr. Bonnell walked onto the victim’s property again and threw paint onto the victim’s other car, defacing the front windshield, hood, side mirrors, and headlights. After the victim noticed the paint on her car, she checked her camera footage and identified Mr. Bonnell again. It cost the victim more than $1,000 to repair the damage to that car.
The victim reported Mr. Bonnell to Norfolk Police and provided the doorbell footage, photos of the damage to her cars, and receipts from the car repairs she needed to make following those incidents. As a result of the police investigation, Mr. Bonnell was charged with two counts of vandalism — one being a misdemeanor for the tire damage costing less than $1,000 to repair and one being a felony for the other car’s damage costing more than $1,000 to repair.
The Commonwealth extended an offer to Mr. Bonnell for him to plead guilty to two counts of misdemeanor vandalism and agree to pay restitution to the victim. Mr. Bonnell declined that offer, pleaded not guilty to his two charges, and opted to be tried by a jury.
A jury heard Mr. Bonnell’s case on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, and found him guilty as charged after about 20 minutes of deliberation. Judge Everett A. Martin Jr., who presided over Mr. Bonnell’s jury trial, set his sentencing hearing on April 4.
“There are few things as miserable as having a bad neighbor,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Mr. Bonnell had no right to vandalize his neighbor’s property. We extended an offer to Mr. Bonnell to spare the jury and the victim and to give him a chance to make amends. Mr. Bonnell chose to go to trial, and that is his right. The jury rightly convicted him. At sentencing we will seek restitution for the victim and a sentence that recognizes the importance of respecting the right of one’s neighbors to live free of harassment and vandalism.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney J. Drew Fairbanks is prosecuting Mr. Bonnell’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Kyle B. Barnes led the investigation.
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