After Third Arrest, Former Publisher Sneed Enters Rehab

Mitch Sneed, former publisher of Media General's Culpeper (Va.) Star-Exponent, was arrested for the third time this year on domestic charges, his paper reported. But he won't face the April charges until he returns  in summer from a residential rehab facility in Alabama.

In the mid-April arrest, the 48-year-old Sneed was charged with breaking and entering and two counts of misdemeanor assault. A town spokesman told the Star-Exponent that Sneed entered a house where a woman described as an ex-girlfriend was staying, prompting a 911 call, and assaulting a man alleged to be dating the woman. The spokesman said Sneed was standing outside the house when police arrived.

Sneed was released several days later after a hearing to look into possible violation of terms of an unsecured bond issued a day earlier, when from jail Sneed telephoned his ex-girlfriend with whom he was to have no contact, the prosecutor alleged. The judge found Sneed in violation but did not revoke the bond that bound Sneed to appear in court.

In March, Sneed was found not guilty of threatening his ex-girlfriend and violating a protective order, and the judge threw out a related stalking charge brought by the woman.

Upon Sneed's complaint, the woman was served with a summons for using profane or threatening language on the telephone - a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $500. She, too, was charged with violating a protective order. Sneed also initiated a civil action against her related to business matters.

Working for newspapers in the South since he was 15 years old, the Georgia native arrived in Culpeper in 2007 from Alabama, where he was editor of Media General's Opelika-Auburn News. He was named Star-Exponent publisher in 2008, a post he held until his early-March arrest, when was placed on administrative leave pending further investigation.

Sneed also submitted his name for a vacant seat on the town council, which was slated to fill the seat after a May 4 election.

Due back in court for a preliminary hearing May 3, the court agreed that day to postpone the case for three months when Sneed returned to Alabama to enter a residential alcoholism-treatment facility.