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Virginia law allows people to legally be declared a drunk. Two-thirds are in Virginia Beach.
VIRGINIA BEACH -- Alfred "James" Forbes Jr. has been booked into the city jail more times than he can remember.
In the past 15 years, records show he's been incarcerated 27 times. Since 1993 when he was first booked, it's been 60. In the past five years alone, he's spent nearly 800 days in custody.
"It's been a nightmare," Forbes said during a recent jail interview. "I'm a household name here, and I hate it."
His crime? He's legally been declared a drunk in Virginia.
Forbes is one of the hundreds — possibly thousands — of people who've earned the title "habitual drunkard" under an obscure state law that dates back to the 1800s.
Read more: https://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/article_2f5f511e-3613-11e9-85df-db99c9ec636a.html
