NORFOLK, Virginia — New York Legal professional Common Letitia James’ troubled grand-nieces have been charged with a mixed eight felonies and three misdemeanors up to now 5 years — however had their prices downgraded or dropped each time.
The ladies reside in James’ Norfolk, Va., properties, which have been the topic of intense federal scrutiny in latest months over mortgage paperwork James signed — together with a federal prison indictment that has New York’s high legislation enforcer going through 60 years in federal jail.
Cayla Thompson-Hairston, 21, an OnlyFans mannequin with an X-rated social media presence, was hit with felony prices in April 2024 for allegedly mendacity about having a felony prison file when she tried to purchase a gun in Suffolk, Va., in line with courtroom paperwork.
Cops stated that she was barred from proudly owning a handgun resulting from a juvenile felony cost of malicious wounding in August 2020.
Nonetheless, the weapons prices have been later dropped completely.
Norfolk Commonwealth’s Legal professional Ramin Fatehi, a Democrat, stated prosecutors later discovered the juvenile prices have been pleaded all the way down to a misdemeanor.
Suffolk Commonwealth’s Legal professional Narendra Pleas, additionally a Dem, didn’t reply to The Publish’s request for clarification on why she dropped the costs.
One authorized observer stated it was regarding that the costs have been dropped completely — significantly in mild of Thompson-Hairston’s violent prison historical past.
“There’s nothing I noticed that explains why the prosecutor wouldn’t go ahead with some form of consequence for this habits,” Andrew Kersey, a former prosecutor in Fairfax County, who regarded over the courtroom paperwork obtained by The Publish.
“Prosecutors have quite a lot of energy, and they are often merciful, however they simply don’t drop the costs like that.”
In June of final yr — whereas nonetheless on bond weeks after her gun bust — Thompson-Hairston was arrested for grand larceny after stealing round $1,600 value of merchandise from a Walmart retailer in Norfolk, courtroom paperwork alleged.
She later pleaded responsible to misdemeanor petit larceny and was given a suspended jail sentence of 12 months — by no means seeing the within of a jail cell — and positioned on unsupervised probation for a similar period of time.
Thompson-Hairston was additionally banned from all Walmart and Sam’s Membership shops and ordered to pay restitution of $2,500, in line with an arrest warrant considered by The Publish.
Fatehi instructed The Publish that the sentence was on par with Virginia tips, and that charging her with a misdemeanor as an alternative of a felony was “correct, simply, and in keeping with our values as Individuals.”
“Labeling Ms. Hairston a ‘felon’ simply because we may would have put virtue-signaling over public security, making it harder for her to work and be a citizen, finally costing the remainder of us cash,” he stated.
As for the dropping of the weapons prices, Fatehi stated he was “assured” that if Suffolk County prosecutor’s workplace “had the proof to convict Ms. Hairston, they’d have achieved so.”
Fatehi stated he was unaware of Thompson-Hairston’s familial connection to James, however in April, he stated that the prison investigation of James’ properties in his district was “political retaliation.”
He has additionally continuously battled native officers who accuse him of going mild on shoplifting circumstances.
One other grand-niece of James, Cayla’s huge sister Nakia Thompson, 36, has an intensive rap sheet of her personal and is presently deemed a fugitive in Forsyth County, North Carolina, for failing to complete her probation, in line with authorities.
Along with being arrested twice for assaulting cops in North Carolina, Thompson and Thompson-Hairston have been busted in August 2019 for stealing almost $2,000 value of merchandise from Macy’s and Dillard’s in Chesapeake, Va., the place they lived earlier than transferring into James’ properties.
Thompson was hit with two grand larceny prices, in addition to petit larceny third offense, possession of housebreaking instruments, and three prices of contributing to delinquency of a minor, resulting from her having her then-teenage sister and two younger kids in tow on the time, data obtained by The Publish present.
However the prices all however evaporated by the point she stood earlier than a choose.
Thompson pleaded them down to 1 cost every of petit and grand larceny. She was sentenced to 6 years in jail, with all however six months suspended.
She was additionally given two years of supervised probation, ordered to pay $2,020 in charges and barred from all Macy’s and Dillard’s shops for 10 years, paperwork present.
James has vehemently denied the costs in opposition to her, vowing, “I cannot bow” in a defiant speech at a rally for NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani this week.
The fees in opposition to James revolve round the home the place Thompson lives, which she labeled a “second house” in mortgage docs.
President Trump’s hand-picked US Legal professional for the Jap District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, alleged that James’ declaration saved her $19,000 in curiosity and charges and barred her from accumulating hire on the property.
Nonetheless, prosecutors alleged within the indictment, James’ tax paperwork confirmed she had rental earnings on the property and took tax deductions for it.
Thompson instructed the New York Instances that she didn’t pay hire after transferring into the home.
