Female Arson Suspect To Be Evaluated By Norfolk Doctor

By Carol Vaughn
Staff Writer
Female arson suspect faces psych evaluation

ACCOMAC — A Hopeton woman accused of arson will undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether she is competent to stand trial and to assess her mental condition at the time she allegedly committed the crimes.

Tonya Bundick, 40, who is incarcerated in the Accomack County Jail, will be evaluated there by a Norfolk doctor, according to a court order General District Judge Gordon Vincent signed April 17.

Bundick and her fiance, Charles R. Smith III, who also remains incarcerated at the jail, are so far charged only in connection with an April 1 arson in Melfa but police say they are confident the two set most of the 77 arsons reported in the county since November.

Smith confessed to police he set 52 fires and said Bundick set 15, according to court documents.

The motion attorney Shannon Dunham filed asking for a psychiatric evaluation said it appears Bundick’s actions during the arsons in which she allegedly took part “may have been affected by mental disease ordefect.”

The motion asked the court to appoint a physician to evaluate three things: Bundick’s competency to stand trial; her mental state at the time of the alleged offenses; and “mitigating factors related to the defendant’s history, character or mental condition to include an assessment, to the extent possible, of future dangerousness.”

Included in the order is the caveat that no statements or disclosure Bundick makes about the crimes during the evaluation may be used against her as evidence during a trial.

In Smith’s case, Eastern Shore of Virginia 9-1-1 Commission Director Jeffrey A. Flournoy has been subpoenaed, at Smith’s attorney’s request, to appear at a May 6 preliminary hearing in Accomack County General District Court.

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