The brother of the Parkland, Florida school shooter was arrested Tuesday for allegedly trespassing on school properties in Augusta County. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The Augusta County Sheriff's Office said in a press release that surveillance footage from the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center Complex showed Zachary P. Cruz trespassing on Jan. 25, around 11:30 p.m. According to the release, "the footage shows Mr. Cruz approaching exterior doors, attempting to open them, and peering inside" the middle and high schools and technical center. The sheriff's office and Virginia State Police arrested Cruz without incident on Feb. 4. He is being held at Middle River Regional Jail without bond.
Cruz came to Virginia after the highly publicized Parkland school shooting. His brother, Nikolas Cruz, was convicted of murdering 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. A few weeks after the shooting, Zachary Cruz was arrested for trespassing at the Florida school. After he pled no contest, he was charged with violating his probation by driving without a license.
That's when Nexus comes in – the business formerly based in Augusta County whose leaders have since pled guilty to tax evasion and been found liable for violating consumer protection laws, amidst a slew of other legal troubles. Cruz's defense attorney in the Florida probation case told The Washington Post he was hired by Nexus Founder Michael Donovan. Donovan and his husband Richard Moore took Cruz in, and have since been accused of stealing more than $400,000 that Cruz received from his mother's life insurance payout.
Donovan, Moore, and Nexus employee Timothy Shipe were charged with obtaining money through false pretenses and exploiting a mental incapacity for financial gain. A jury trial is scheduled to begin on March 3. Social media posts indicate that Zachary Cruz has continued living with the couple despite the charges.
