VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – The Virginia Beach man who attempted to give an Apple AirTag concealed in a stack of stickers to a 7-year-old girl will not be facing punishment — at least for the next three months.

Connor Land, 20, was arrested on July 15, 2023, while working as a Wegman’s checkout employee after the girl’s mother found the tracking device and called police. He appeared in court for a second trial, following an appeal, on March 21.

Although all of the facts, testimony and evidence in the case has been heard — and Land pleaded guilty — the judge overseeing the case elected to defer judgement until June 24, giving Land time to get enrolled in counseling and treatment programs.

The statute that allowed him to make that decision came out of a state law passed in 2020.

That bill, SB133, “allows a court to defer and dismiss a criminal case where the defendant has been diagnosed with autism or an intellectual disability and the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the criminal conduct was caused by or had a direct and substantial relationship to the person’s disorder or disability.”

Land’s attorney, Kristin Paulding, told us outside of the courthouse that the law gives judges more option when dealing with neuro-atypical people. Previously, the only similar remedy would’ve been to plead insanity.

The prosecution, however, took a very different stance.

“The Commonwealth argued vehemently against the deferred finding and urged the Court to convict Land,” Macie Allen, a spokesperson for the office, wrote in a statement. “This was also the position of the victim and a victim in an unrelated previous incident.”

What happened to the victims?

A police bodycam video of the initial interrogation of Land was played as evidence. In the interview, which took place in a back room of the Wegmans store shortly after police were called, he initially denied giving the girl stickers, and then denied any knowledge of the tracking device embedded between them.

After police put additional pressure, Land eventually admitted that he found the mother of the girl attractive and wanted to track her to find her address and send her a letter.

“I have a letter here that I’ve given to a few women discretely,” Land said, in the video. “To be honest, it’s creepy.”

The officer then read the document taken as evidence from Land’s phone.

“Dear prospective goddess,” it began, before requesting to pay $1000 a month to be able to do the woman’s household chores and worship her from head to toe — no nudity.

He then denied intending to do any harm to the young girl.

“I understand now that this is threatening behavior to people,” Land went on to say.

He also admitted to giving the same letter, along with money, to at least one other woman.

In a second police video, taken from inside a department vehicle Land was detained in outside of the store, he told an officer he’d previously had a restraining order taken out against him — and he’d violated it, accidentally. This, he said, was why he’d been suspended from school.

He said he’d called the father of the person who’d filed the order to apologize for his actions, not realizing that by doing so he violated the order. He remembered spending 12 hours in the Newport News jail — they played a lot of BET.

The woman who took out that protective order, a student at CNU at the time, told the court that Land had donated to her club’s fundraiser and the two had a small interaction. Later that night, her roommate called saying a male student was in their dorm waiting for her to return.

The roommate testified that she didn’t feel threatened by Land initially and the two would discuss theater. He’d said he was friends with the first female student. It was unclear how he accessed their building or located the dorm (or found the victim’s father’s phone number). Land would testify that he simply walked around each floor looking at the names on the doors.

The roommate said Land simply left when asked to do so. Under questioning by Land’s attorney, she said she was weirded out, but didn’t feel threatened.

The victim in the Wegman’s incident read a statement from the witness stand.

The event “profoundly changed my life … left me emotionally and psychologically distressed — shattered my sense of community,” she said.

She went on to say that she worries every knock on her door could be Land, and that she desperately wants to move away from the area, but her husband is stationed in Hampton Roads.

She also said she disagreed with the motion for a deferred judgement.

Who is the defendant?

Karen Land, Connor’s mother told the court she thought it was around 14 when her son first started receiving mental health services,. She described a tumultuous adolescence rife with bullying and social misunderstandings.

She said a mental health evaluation in 2023 resulted in a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and that Connor had never been violent or refused to take his meds.

Connor Land detailed his myriad weekly counseling sessions and related appointments for the court.

“I was so confused, I didn’t know what was going on with me,” he said of the progress he’s made in group therapy.

He said he’s seeing the doctor who helped write the law that he’s attempting to use to get deferred judgement. He also talked about his trouble forming bonds and communicating with the opposite sex.

“It’s like a wall,” he testified. Later adding, “I’m like socially blind.”

In retrospect, he described the Wegmans incident as a “frightening … invasion of privacy,” and thanked the officer who’d initially interviewed him — and whose bodycam was shown as evidence.

He also acknowledged that he may have caused his victims to have to seek out mental health care — just like he’d had to — and apologized.

Dr. Rex Miller, who operates a private practice in Norfolk, testified as an expert witness. He conducted a psychosexual evaluation of Land shortly after the Wegman’s incident.

He said he recognized Autism Spectrum Disorder in Connor right away, even though he wasn’t looking for it, along with impulse control and two sex-related disorders.

Miller explained how people with the disorder experience the world differently. Of the AirTag incident, he said Connor didn’t understand why the victim felt scared and intimidated, nor that approaching random people wasn’t normal.

In the end, the judge acknowledged that sufficient evidence had been presented to find Land guilty, but deferred judgement for three months. The intention is for Land to continue to get treatment and attend therapy in that time.

Why deferred judgement?

“One of the issues that we have struggled with is the criminal justice system is a one size fits all [system],” Brian Kelmar, president and cofounder of D3 (Decriminalize Developmental Disorders) said in a phone conversation a day after the trial. “And we’ve taken into account mental illness, taken into account veterans issues, PTSD and, particularly, alcoholism — but we have never taken into account a developmental disability, which is something that you are born with. It’s a part of your brain — even though you physically can’t see it — that is operating different from a neurotypical.”

D3 helped advocate for SB133, the bill that created the deferred judgement autism statute.

“They are not getting away with a crime,” Kelmar explained. “They have a disability and they have issues that need to be addressed, and getting the right support. That’s what makes it better for him, makes it better for society.”

“Putting him away in jail does nothing,” he continued. In fact, a lot of times they don’t even comprehend what jail is all about. 

Connor Land is slated to appear again in court on June 24.