DC Ex-Firefighter Out Of Prison After Police Stop Found Illegal

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A former D.C. firefighter was released from prison in Virginia last week after a Fairfax County judge overturned his 2019 conviction on drug and gun charges.

The conviction was based on information provided by a former Fairfax County police officer who is now under state and FBI investigation.

Elon J. Wilson was released from the Nottoway Work Center in southern Virginia last Wednesday, a day after the judge overturned his conviction, The Washington Post reported.

Wilson, 26, was arrested by former officer Jonathan Freitag after driving with a teenage cousin in Fairfax County in April 2018. He was pulled over for crossing the centerline, taking too long to pull over and having illegally tinted windows.

During the traffic stop, Freitag, a white police officer, searched the car, where he found a bag of 450 OxyContin tablets and two handguns in the glove compartment.

Wilson, who is Black, told police that the drugs and guns belonged to his cousin. But the Office of then Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh threatened him with 10 years in prison for distributing drugs and possessing a gun while selling drugs.

Wilson had a 5-month-old baby and chose a plea bargain in which he received a three-year sentence, which he had been serving since July 2019, The Washington Post reported.

In the same year as Wilson's conviction, the Fairfax County Police Department received a complaint in 2019 about Freitag’s conduct and began reviewing in-car video of his traffic stops. By September 2019, the police took Freitag off the street.

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Prosecutors dismissed a number of pending cases involving Freitag, and the FBI was brought in to assist with looking into Freitag’s actions, which allegedly include removing drugs from the police property room and falsifying his reports. As investigations into Freitag continued, Wilson would remain in prison.

Wilson’s lawyer eventually obtained video of the April 2018 traffic stop, which showed that Wilson did not cross the centerline, that he promptly pulled over when Freitag signaled, and that did not have illegally tinted windows. Evidence obtained from an illegal stop may not be used against a defendant.

The lawyer filed a motion to dismiss the charges. About a year later, the Fairfax County judge issued a ruling last Tuesday ordering Wilson’s release.

In the wake of the findings, Fairfax County prosecutors, under the leadership of new Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, sought to undo 400 cases related to Freitag.

“Clearly, Steve Descano has an agenda,” Freitag told The Washington Post. “I will continue to stick by my word of me doing nothing wrong.”

Freitag, 25, resigned in May 2020 and has not been charged with any crimes.

Freitag then was hired last August by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. But Freitag was fired earlier this month when Brevard County learned he was under federal investigation, and Brevard authorities said they are also reviewing his cases.