Former Stafford Co. deputy indicted in crash that left Marine dead

A former Stafford County Sheriff’s deputy was indicted Monday in a Virginia crash that left a Marine dead last July.



The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said in a release that Deputy J.J. Yenchak was driving eastbound on Garrisonville Road when he struck Jesse Schertz, 44, of Norfolk, who was crossing Garrisonville Road near Center Street shortly after midnight last July 9.

Yenchak was indicted by a grand jury on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving. A court date has not yet been set, the release said.

According to an obituary, Schertz retired from the Marines Corps in 2018 after 24 years. He served two tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan.

He, his wife and two children moved to Norfolk when they “missed living near the ocean and military communities.”

He and his family had moved to Norfolk just two months before the crash, the obit said.

Will Vitka

William Vitka is a Digital Writer/Editor for WTOP.com. He's been in the news industry for over a decade. Before joining WTOP, he worked for CBS News, Stuff Magazine, The New York Post and wrote a variety of books—about a dozen of them, with more to come.

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