Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett will remain in office for now. A jury of seven people deliberated for nearly 10 hours on Monday to reach a verdict in the civil trial to determine whether Nett should be removed from office. The jury unanimously determined that removal was not warranted. The jury was asked to decide based on five allegations: violations of the Freedom of Information Act, violations of the town’s policies and procedures, violations of the Conflict-of-Interest Act, violations related to personal financial gain of an elected official, and malfeasance. The jury determined that was found to have violated two of the allegations related to policies and procedures and the Conflict-of-Interest Act. But the other three allegations were not found to have been proven by clear and convincing evidence, and ultimately jurors did not believe removal was warranted.

The Halifax County Board of Supervisors voted at a Tuesday evening meeting to amend a contract with The Premier Group, the financial consulting firm that conducted a forensic audit of the county’s finances. After a closed session board discussion, Vice Chair Robbie Smart made the motion to authorize County Administrator Ron Brade to modify the contract with The Premier Group. The purpose is for the auditors to update their report “based solely on additional information provided resulting from the voluntary assistance of (former county finance director) Stephanie Jackson,” Smart stated. … Supervisor Dennis Witt stated that the auditors with the Premier Group “requested documents that were stored in our building, and the question that should be asked is, ‘Why were those documents not located?’” He also pointed out that the auditors “never set foot” in Halifax County. Supervisor William Bryant Claiborne made the comment, “To sit up here and blame the Premier Group, it’s not right. If anybody’s to blame, it’s the county for not having those documents.”

Former Blacksburg Town Council member Liam Watson received two years of unsupervised probation Monday after a judge suspended prison sentences on his three felony convictions for election fraud and illegally voting. Montgomery County Circuit Judge Robert Turk sentenced Watson to two years on each of the three felony convictions, ordered the sentences to run concurrently and suspended the prison time, meaning Watson will serve no time unless he violates his probation. The convictions carried a penalty of up to 25 years in prison. A jury convicted Watson in December on two counts of felony election fraud and one count of illegally voting after prosecutors argued he falsely listed a Blacksburg address on his candidate and voter registration forms while living in Richmond, where he worked as a press secretary for the Democratic Party of Virginia.

Two Norfolk employees were charged in separate cases with embezzlement and misuse of public funds. One is accused of purchasing dozens of phones for Norfolk police that were found sold on Ebay. The the other is accused of delivering DoorDash during the workday using a city-owned truck. According to court records, an officer in the Norfolk Police’s Technology Support Unit noticed an unusually large bill this year for a phone on the department’s Verizon plan.The phone was one of 59 records showed was ordered by Vontina Laws, the unit’s microcomputer analyst. A criminal complaint said the phones were delivered by FedEx to Laws’ workplace in Norfolk’s courthouse and she signed for them. Laws, 56, is tasked with, upon request, ordering phones on the Norfolk police’s account and delivering them to the Technology Support Unit. But no officers received any of thephones Laws’ ordered. The lines were suspended by Laws’ for 180 days, court records say, before they were activated by people unknown to Norfolk police — some of whom had international calls and charges.