Lynchburg City Council candidate charged with stalking

A candidate running for Lynchburg’s Ward II seat on the city council was arrested Thursday and charged with stalking and unlawful filming of another, according to jail records.

Rodney Lamont Hubbard, the 52-year-old owner of a car repair business near Fifth Street, is registered as a Republican challenger to incumbent Democrat Sterling Wilder, for the November election. His campaign has been quieter than those of other local GOP candidates, with no primary and significantly less cash flow on his campaign finance reports.

Hubbard’s name and mugshot appear in Blue Ridge Regional Jail records that indicate he was arrested at 12:56 p.m. Thursday and booked into the Lynchburg Adult Detention Center on charges of stalking and unlawful filming of another, stemming from an incident on July 6.

A request for arrest information from the Lynchburg Police Department was unanswered as of Friday evening. Jail booking data states that his charges are filed in Lynchburg Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, which declined to provide records on the case Friday.

Hubbard was scheduled for a Friday morning bond hearing but was denied bond, according to jail records, and is next scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 2. Requests for comment from his attorney were unanswered as of Friday evening, as were requests for comment sent to Hubbard’s campaign. A Facebook page for his campaign made a post Friday morning, but he did not appear at a candidate forum Thursday night.

Hubbard has other charges pending in Lynchburg General District Court: misdemeanor assault and battery and misdemeanor carry of a concealed weapon. Those charges stem from a May 25 incident where he “aggressively” walked up to a man on the man’s property, shouted at the man and thrust his hand “as [if] he was going to hit me,” according to a statement in court records. When the man called police and told Hubbard to leave the property, Hubbard continued his behavior, the statement reads.

The concealed firearm charge stems from the same incident, and both cases are scheduled for a July 25 trial.

Court records indicate Hubbard has a history of run-ins with law enforcement, with some convictions and some charges dropped or downgraded. His prior record includes convictions for drug possession and distribution, destruction of property, possessing a gun as a nonviolent felon and unlawfully obtaining documents from the DMV — a case that was downgraded from embezzlement charges and one he was ordered to pay restitution for.

He was also charged with assault and battery of the same woman twice in the past three years, but those charges were dismissed or dropped.

Questions sent to the Lynchburg Republican City Committee were unanswered as of Friday evening. One of Hubbard’s promises on his campaign page is for “safer streets.”

Wilder won 78% of his ward’s vote when he first ran in 2016 against independent candidate McKinley Marshall, and won with 57% of the vote in 2020 against independent Larry Taylor, who now holds an at-large seat on the council as a Republican.

Wilder has raised $1,410 in campaign funds compared to Hubbard’s $697. Taormina Howard is listed on the Virginia Public Access Project as an independent candidate for the Ward II race, but did not qualify for the ballot and has not yet filed any campaign finance reports.

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