If you didn't know, that's also your fault. Virginia just doesn't turn off your license without notice. Either you ignored the notice, or you failed in your obligation of giving them a good address to reach you at.
The only good part of this is that you were NOT a NJ resident. As horrendously bad as it is to get caught driving in VA without a license, doing so in NJ would involve substantial additional surcharges to provide financing to the corrupt state insurance system. Such is the problem when the state legislature is composed largely of personal injury lawyers.