Charges by the Virginia State Police that resulted in an indictment by a Loudoun Grand jury allege that Purcellville Vice Mayor Ben Nett used a police database to research political opponents prior to his election to the Town Council. Nett was arrested Wednesday night on six felony indictments resulting from an investigation by the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Fairfax Office. He was released that same night on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond. Virginia State Police Public Relations Coordinator Matt Demlein told Loudoun Now that the first four charges are related to violations regarding use of the Virginia Criminal Information Network – a statewide data communications network incorporating computerized links to regional and national law enforcement systems including the Virginia Department of Moror Vehicles, National Crime Information Center, and National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System.

In a post on social media Thursday afternoon, Purcellville Mayor Chris Bertaut responded to the allegations against Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett and Town Manager Kwasi Fraser. “Let me be clear, I stand firmly behind the principle that every individual is innocent until proven guilty. What we are witnessing today are serious charges, but they come at a time of deep political division and immediately following the complete exoneration of Vice-Mayor Ben Nett by an independent Grievance Panel,” Bertaut said in a statement. “That panel found the case against Mr. Nett was not only unfounded but rooted in political motivations. It exposed a troubling pattern—where the rules were bent, procedures ignored, and a dedicated public servant was targeted for daring to serve both his community and speak out for reform. The panel unanimously concluded he did nothing wrong and ordered his full reinstatement with back pay,” he wrote. Bertaut said he questions the timing of Nett’s and Fraser’s arrests before the findings of the panel were released.

Matt Cross, a Rockingham County school board member and former board chair who is running for reelection in November, has been hit with a fine after failing to file campaign finance reports on time since late 2021. According to the Rockingham County Office of Elections, Cross owes the county $9,200 and has 60 days to either pay it or appeal to the Virginia Department of Elections. In a letter sent to Cross by county registrar Lisa Gooden on July 18, Cross’s 11 late reports were listed. Seven of these reports — the ones due from July 2023 to July 2025 — were filed on a single day, July 17 of this year. According to state law, a late report can be fined a civil penalty “not to exceed $500,” though Rockingham County charges $100. A subsequent late report in the same election cycle is fined $1,000.

After a day in and out of the Warren County General District Courtroom beginning on the 9 a.m. docket and ending Judge Anne M. Williams day shortly after 5 p.m., Wednesday, July 23, there was somewhat of a “split decision” in the latest Truc “Curt” Tran versus the Front Royal/Warren County Economic Development Authority litigation. In favor of the EDA in that “split decision” was a denial of Tran’s request for an “Injunction” against the EDA on the continued use of its existing legal counsel, primarily Sands-Anderson on “financial scandal” civil cases, due to FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) violations in authorization of that continued representation. Tran’s Injunction filing revolved around the EDA Board’s authorization to continue to retain Sand-Anderson as EDA legal counsel in upcoming “financial scandal” related litigations without open meeting discussion or a legal vote.

The city of Charlottesville is sticking with the law firm whose attorneys missed a court filing deadline prompting a judge to issue a default ruling against the city and overturn its recently passed zoning ordinance. Not the city’s new attorney, John Maddux, nor the Richmond law firm of Sands Anderson which had been representing the city in matters before Maddux’s hiring last month, but Roanoke-based law firm of Gentry Locke.  The firm — which has also represented Arlington County and Alexandria in their own zoning debacles — asked the court Tuesday to reconsider its June 30 decision. Their latest filing says the default decision was inappropriate, citing other cases in which late filings were excused.

A judge ruled Monday that the New York State Police (NYSP) must disclose the names of officers it redacted from two decades of misconduct complaints sought by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). Albany County Supreme Court Judge Julian Schriebman held that the NYSP couldn’t apply a blanket privacy exemption to redact officers’ names from a spreadsheet of misconduct investigations. The NYCLU won a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in 2023 for NYSP misconduct records spanning from 2000 to 2020, but the department insisted on redacting officers’ names, claiming that publishing the names of officers who were accused and cleared of wrongdoing would be an invasion of personal privacy. Schriebman ruled that the department lacked a reasonable basis under New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) for the blanket denial and ordered the NYSP to produce the unredacted records within 90 days, as well as pay attorney fees and costs to the NYCLU.