VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A new law helped a man with autism avoid jail time after he admitted to giving a little girl an AirTag as she left the Wegmans supermarket with her mom in Virginia Beach last year.
Supporters of the law said Connor Land will continue to get the help he needs instead of going to jail, but the victims in the case said they were extremely disappointed and fearful.
Land, 20, admitted on the stand that he gave a 7-year-old girl an AirTag while he was working at Wegmans in Virginia Beach back in July.
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Cashier arrested for placing tracking device on customer leaving VB supermarket
The mother of the child found the AirTag wrapped up in a handful of stickers and called the police.
Land was arrested.
He testified the reason he did this was to find an address for the girl’s mom because he wanted to start a relationship with the woman.
He said he did not want to harm her and understands now why this behavior is not appropriate.
Land testified that he wanted to mail her a letter where he described her as a goddess stating that he wanted to worship her and requested to pay her to do chores around her house like babysitting, cleaning and giving her foot massages.
Watch previous coverage: Cashier arrested for placing electronic tracking device on customer leaving Virginia Beach Wegmans
Land said he tried to give the letter to another woman earlier in the day, but she returned it, saying she felt uncomfortable.
During the hearing, Jenna Gibson also took the stand. She described how she got a protective order against Land in a separate incident after he turned up in her dorm room uninvited while at Christopher Newport University several months before.
While Land’s actions are bizarre, his defense attorney Kristin Paulding argued that Land’s autism caused him to normalize the behavior at the time.
“When you learn about his autism and you learn about how his mind works, you recognize why it made sense to him at the time,” said Paulding.
She said since his arrest, he was diagnosed with autism, goes to different kinds of therapy sessions and takes medication.
Virginia Beach Judge James Lewis called this one of the most unusual cases he’s ever seen and described Land’s actions as beyond creepy, but ruled that sending him to jail wouldn’t be beneficial and would be significantly detrimental to his progress.
Investigations
No jail time for VB Wegmans cashier who gave 7-year-old girl AirTag in stickers
“Jails are not a place to treat mental health illnesses... and I think that’s what Judge Lewis is trying to convey,” said Paulding.
Paulding says this is the first time she’s used this new law while representing a client.
“Three years ago, there were new statutes that came out that provided mental health defenses," she explained. "This particularly allows for someone who has autism spectrum disorder, if you can connect the non-violent crime to the autism spectrum disorder, then you have the opportunity for this potential deferred finding."
Judge Lewis ruled in favor of a deferred finding, meaning Land will avoid jail time and will go back to court in three months for a check-in to make sure he is continuing with his treatment and therapy.
Two of the victims in this case told News 3 they were extremely disappointed by the judge's decision.
Watch previous coverage: No jail time for Virginia Beach Wegmans cashier who gave 7-year-old girl AirTag in stickers
“I still feel very uncomfortable,” said Jenna Gibson. "I think there was a lot of new information that came out about the case that made it more egregious of a crime that he committed. I wish he was held more accountable than he was."
The other victim and her husband who didn’t want to be identified said the reason they decided to put themselves through a trial was to prevent this from happening to other people, and they feel the system failed them and potentially others.
They said they were fearful and very disappointed.
Paulding says this new law provides other options for those with intellectual disabilities.
“Before, you could really only plead insanity, which is a very difficult threshold to meet in criminal law,” said Paulding. "I think what this does is [it] opens the door and allows the court to look at more factors."
The judge said he would put Land in jail if he broke the law again. He’s expected back in front of the judge on June 24.
Brianna Lanham contributed to this story.
