ROANOKE, Va. – A Roanoke woman is behind bars, facing charges in two major cases, including the death of her two-month-old infant.
Lindsey Renee Burnette is also charged in a racketeering investigation that stretches from Floyd to Rockbridge counties.
Police have not yet said whether the two cases are related.
Investigators searched Burnette’s cell phone as part of the racketeering investigation, which involves many moving parts.
“Sometimes all you have to do is follow the money. And sometimes it’s following money. Sometimes it’s following the people, following the goods,” said Dr. Tod Burke, a former police officer and criminologist said.
Burke explained that racketeering investigations under the Virginia RICO Act are complex, and that appears to be the case in this latest probe.
Search warrants filed in Roanoke City Circuit Court, obtained by 10 News investigators, show efforts to piece together connections between Earl Wayne Smith and other defendants in a sweeping RICO case covering Floyd to Rockbridge counties.
“And they’re time-consuming cases that take a lot of work for law enforcement because the folks who are typically committing these crimes are trying to hide from view. And so, it takes a lot of work,” said John Fishwick, a former U.S. Attorney and owner of the firm John Fishwick and Associates. “These are important cases. You typically see them in federal court, but absolutely they can be brought in state court and that’s what’s happened here.”
The warrants include the search of Burnette’s cell phone, but she is only a small part of the narrative. She is identified as “a known narcotic connection with Earl Smith to pay females for sex.”
According to the search warrant, Smith is the co-owner of Amanda’s Touch, a bridal shop with locations in Roanoke, Waynesboro and Harrisonburg.
Smith is accused of paying for sexual acts, either through cash payments or exchanging rent at homes in Rockbridge County and Lexington, often bringing women to a back room of the Roanoke store to do so.
Smith and Burnette are just two of the defendants in this sweeping case so far. Kenneth Tolley, Jose Jorge Sanchez, and Molly Lepisto also face charges in Floyd County.
“It’s not just one or two isolated crimes,” said John Fishwick, a former U.S. Attorney and owner of the firm John Fishwick and Associates. “This charge is saying that you did multiple kind of heavy-duty criminal acts and therefore we’re going to charge you as a criminal enterprise.”
Smith is currently held in Rockbridge County, where he faces prostitution and drug distribution charges. He also faces charges in Floyd County and Roanoke City, where court records show he has pleaded guilty to at least one drug charge.
Attempts to reach Smith’s attorney for comment have not yet been successful.