Waynesboro officer found guilty of Taser assault on colleague

A jury found a Waynesboro police officer guilty of using a stun gun last year against a fellow officer during a horseplay incident while both were on duty.

On April 9 in Waynesboro Circuit Court, 31-year-old Jacob W. Moore was convicted of felony assault against a law enforcement officer. The conviction calls for mandatory jail time. He was found not guilty on a second charge of disarming a police officer.

Evidence showed that Moore and three other officers, along with a civilian, met at about 1:30 a.m. on April 6, 2025, at the Caribbean Car Wash on Lew Dewitt Boulevard following a call. Officer Braulio Cortes, the victim, testified he was “joking around” with Moore and officer Joseph M. Meadows — who pleaded guilty in March for his role — when he said that two spare magazines were snatched from his police vest and the rounds dumped onto the ground.

Cortes said another magazine, still loaded, was also tossed into a vehicle that the fourth officer, not charged, was sitting in with the civilian. While at the driver’s side window of the vehicle, Cortes said he was retrieving the magazine when he was “dry stunned in the back” by Moore, who was holding his Taser and laughing.

“It hurt a lot,” he testified.

Angry, Cortes said he called his supervisor and asked to be taken off the rest of his shift, but did not tell him about being shocked. “I just wanted to get away from the situation,” he said. However, there was a shooting that morning in Waynesboro and Cortes immediately came back on duty.

But as the days passed, Cortes said he began feeling uneasy about his shift partners, and said he found himself responding to calls without backup. “I didn’t feel safe on that shift,” he said.

About three weeks later, he met with his captain and Chief David Shaw and told them about being shocked by Moore’s Taser. During the meeting, Cortes received a text from Moore, who apologized and admitted to dry stunning him, evidence showed.

“I’m sorry for always picking on you,” Moore said in the text.

Shaw testified that a mandated report up the chain of command should have been made after Moore’s use of his Taser, but said no such report was made. The chief said that of the department’s seven use-of-force levels, only deadly force ranks higher than a stun gun, which he described as “striking force.”

Taking the stand, Moore, a corporal who has been on the Waynesboro police force for eight years, described Cortes as a good friend and denied using a Taser on him. He claimed he was doing a function check on the device and “zapped” it while behind him as a joke. But while doing so, he said Cortes backed away from the civilian’s vehicle and nearly came into contact with the device. “I absolutely do not believe” the Taser touched him, Moore testified.

He also denied emptying all of Cortes’ rounds onto the ground, but admitted to taking several bullets and tossing them at him.

During closing arguments, Waynesboro Commonwealth’s Attorney David Ledbetter reminded the jury that Moore had already admitted in his text that he dry stunned Cortes. “He tells you a different story today,” the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Daniel Mowry argued his client was telling the truth. “I view his testimony as very credible,” he said.

Moore, who remains on administrative leave, will be sentenced July 15. He faces a mandatory minimum of six months in jail.

On March 6, Meadows, 30, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of disarming a police officer. In a plea agreement, the charge was taken under advisement for three years. If he stays trouble-free during that time frame, Meadows will be sentenced to 180 days in jail, all of it suspended, on a reduced charge of misdemeanor obstruction of justice with force. A second charge of assault against a law enforcement officer was not prosecuted. Meadows is no longer a police officer.

Cortes has since left the Waynesboro Police Department and is now with the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office.

Reporting by Brad Zinn, Staunton News Leader