CHESAPEAKE, Va. - Brian Faulcon, a former junior varsity basketball coach, has spent nearly a decade trying to prove he is not the gunman who robbed a pizza delivery woman in 2012.
Now, after family and friends organized a petition for Gov. Ralph Northam to issue a pardon before his term ends this month, he has issued one.
On Tuesday, we got confirmation that Gov. Northam issued the conditional pardon from the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office and with Faulcon's mother, Cynthia Faulcon.
Faulcon was released from prison on Wednesday morning and News 3 was there to speak with him.
News 3 was the first to investigate this story and has been following it for months.
Our investigation into court records revealed DNA evidence does not connect Faulcon to the crime, and there are discrepancies between the traumatized victim’s account the night of the robbery and her testimony in court, when she stressed, “I am 100 percent sure this is the man that robbed me that night.”
According to court records reviewed by News 3, two unmasked men robbed a pizza delivery woman in Chesapeake at the Merchant’s Square apartments off Eden Parkway around 8:20 p.m. on January 23, 2012.
Transcripts of the victim’s conversation with a 911 dispatcher moments after the robbery reveal she said one of the men stood back while the other had a silver gun. She went on to say the gunman forced her to the ground face up, rummaged through her pockets, stole $14 in cash, and ran away with the other robber. The 911 call transcript also reveals the victim said the gunman was African American, and wore a dark blue hoodie. She said she wasn’t sure about the second robber’s race, but she said he also wore a hoodie.
News 3 also found court records that revealed a detective with the Chesapeake Police Department lawfully approved the destruction of a surveillance tape in an unsolved 7-Eleven robbery that may have created reasonable doubt in a separate robbery investigation.
Faulcon and his former defense attorneys believe the man who robbed the 7-Eleven at 10:24 p.m. on January 23, 2012, on Providence Road in Chesapeake, is the same man who committed the robbery of the pizza delivery woman earlier that night at 8:20 p.m. three miles away near Eden Parkway.
On Wednesday, Chesapeake Police Chief Kelvin Wright responded to the news of Faulcon’s conditional pardon and he said he saw the News 3 story and wishes him well.
Related: Chesapeake Police lawfully destroyed evidence a robbery convict says could have freed him
