Monday Late Morning Update

Customers of the solar company Pink Energy are still waiting for their unfinished projects to be completed months after Virginia’s attorney general’s office launched an investigation into the business.

The office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares told 8News last September it was investigating Pink Energy, formerly known as PowerHome Solar, after receiving 54 complaints about the business’s operation.

After suddenly closing in September of 2022, Pink Energy filed for bankruptcy in October of 2022. The move left dozens of customers with unfinished projects and growing loan payments. Virginia, Ohio, and North Carolina were some of the states investigating the company.

Chesterfield County resident Kimberlyn Towles was one of the residents who was left trying to find someone to finish her project after the company closed its doors.

In a letter co-signed by nine other attorneys general, Miyares called on Dividend Solar Finance, GoodLeap, Cross Riverbank, Sunlight Financial and Solar Mosaic — all companies that provided loans for homeowners to pay for the installation of solar panels — to stop collecting interest from the customers of Pink Energy who never had their installations completed.

Despite this call to action, Towles says she is still left with an incomplete project 10 months later.

“It’s been months and months and that hasn’t happened,” Towles told 8News.

Pink Energy, known as PowerHome Solar at the time, installed solar panels on Towles’ roof in 2019. In the summer of 2022, the panels were taken down to have her roof repaired. In September, the solar company was scheduled to reinstall Towles’ panels but they never showed up.

While the letter sent to lending companies with Pink Energy does not include any requirements that companies must follow, Towles said she hoped the call to action would help her finally get her solar panels back up.

“I can’t believe that there is not one company in our area or a nearby area here that is not willing to just help get my panels back up and running,” said Towles.

8News reached out to the Virginia Attorney General’s Office for comment. That request was denied. Customers are encouraged to continue to file complaints through the office’s Consumer Protection Section.

The sheriff's office says the child was approached while he was outside playing in a wooded area near the front of his house.

They say that Williams offered the boy several items including things like power tools, a knife and even a duckling.

As the boy was talking with Williams, a neighbor noticed the interaction and called the boy over to her.

Williams then drove off leaving the items behind.

Authorities are not identifying the child because of his young age.

A neighbor spoke with 8News says that the neighborhood doesn't have a lot of children.

They said that they've been living in the area for 40 years and nothing like this has ever happened.

Man arrested after Monday night incident

Richmond schools' new recruitment plan

A grandmother and her two great-grandchildren are in critical condition after a fire destroyed their Colonial Heights home on Monday, May 15.

Sharon Davis was babysitting her three great-grandchildren — Maverick, Nathaniel and Eva — in her Colonial Heights home off Covington Road when the fire broke out at around 3:49 p.m.

Now, three people are in the hospital and eight people are left without a home.

“Emotions are all over the place between going to the hospital and trying to be here to get things together,” Destiney Davis, Sharon Davis’s granddaughter, said. “It’s tough, but we’re in high spirits.”

The family’s focus right now is on recovering after the trauma of the fire, praying for the recovery of their loved ones and finding a new home, after theirs was left destroyed.

“Everything inside is black and it smells awful” Destiney Davis said. “The fire went through several walls in the home. Everything is destroyed. The whole bottom half of the house is filled with water, of course, from putting the fire out.”

Sharon Davis who, along with two of her great-grandchildren, are currently in critical condition after being trapped in the flames that ripped through their home on Monday. The burns the children sustained during the fire covering 70% of their body, according to the family.

“As of now, my grandmother, they’re all in critical condition,” Destiney Davis said. “My grandmother is stable. Please pray for the babies. They’re still trying to get them stable in critical condition right now.”

The network of a debt collector for the VCU Health System and several other Virginia providers was hacked in March, leaking people’s addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal information.

A new video released by the Newport News Police Department includes clips from body cameras worn by officer responding to Richneck Elementary school on the day a six-year-old shot a teacher.

What do workers have lined up?

Crews are hard at work putting roof trusses on the building. "This is just one beam up today, but it will be a beam of light in a couple of years." The new construction marks a symbol of progress for the community. Although the cause of the blaze was never determined. The community still pushed forward to rebuild the 110-year-old building. After the city passed their budget during Mondays meeting they'll now have 15 million dollars to use towards the project.

The York County-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office has released new information in the case of the Richmond woman found shot dead near Yorktown Beach in York County — including a description of the suspect vehicle.

At around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 6, a jogger on Old Williamsburg Road near Yorktown Beach saw a woman lying on the side of the road. The woman, later identified as 25-year-old Tyosha Tanique Mitchell of Richmond, was pronounced dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds.

It is believed that Mitchell was “forcibly taken” from her home on the 2700 block of Bethel Street in Richmond. According to police, the vehicle suspected to be involved in Mitchell’s abduction and murder is described as a dark-colored Hyundai Sonata from between 2012 and 2016.

Anyone who was in the area of the 2700 block of Bethel Street in Richmond’s East End between 12:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. Saturday — or on Old Williamsburg Road near Yorktown Beach between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. Saturday — and believed they may have seen the car described or has information related to this case is asked to call the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office tipline at 757-890-4999. Police are also asking anyone who lives in the above areas to review security camera footage for a car matching the one described.