A  Mathews woman has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the oyster company she owns and that she once operated with her husband, convicted sex offender William “Billy” Hooper.
Robin Hooper, owner of the now-defunct Williams Wharf Oyster Company, was scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 13 on five counts of wire fraud, six counts of concealment money laundering, and one count of “engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity” after a federal grand jury indicted her in March at the Newport News Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Instead, on Tuesday morning, Hooper entered a request to plead guilty. The plea still needs to be accepted by a federal magistrate. If it is accepted, a sentencing hearing will be scheduled.
The indictment against Hooper states that she and Billy Hooper decided to start an oyster farming operation in 2017 from the waterfront property they own in Mathews, holding themselves...