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Bath sheriff's accusations investigated
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
WARM SPRINGS - Following four months of nearly continuous accusations, Sheriff Larry Norfleetis beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Supervisor Stuart Hall targeted Norfleetwith charges at a board meeting in late February. He accused Norfleetof a "blatant misuse of power and authority," listing four items of particular concern.
Norfleetused $13,000 he found in the state compensation board budget for his officeto give raises to deputies. Hall and others assert this money was already budgeted and being spent.
A review by county auditors showed the money had not been spent - Norfleet'suse of the money was approved by the compensation board and determined to be appropriate and legal.
While Hall and former county administrator Claire Collins continued to insist the money had been in the county budget since 2001 and spent every year, the auditors and the compensation board say the fund for compensation of "temporary" deputies was never spent.
Two of the more troubling accusations against the new sheriff involved actions taken between the time Norfleetwas elected in November last year, and when he officially became sheriff Jan. 1.
Last November, Norfleet'swife Leta obtained a warrant in Covington charging a Bath County woman, Carol Maynard, with assault. The warrant was issued by magistrate Valerie Hepler on Nov. 24, 2007, more than a month before Norfleettook over the sheriff's office.
Hall said the bond document with the warrant said Maynard was to not have contact with the sheriff or his wife. Hall said Norfleetclaimed to be sheriff at the time the warrant was issued when he was actually sheriff-elect. Retired sheriff C.T. "Tommy" Black was still sheriff in November.
In a memorandum obtained by The Recorder, Hepler notes, "Upon placing this condition on the accused, it was entirely my clerical error in the wording I used. Having inadvertently referred to Larry Norfleetas Sheriff Norfleet,instead of Sheriff-Elect Norfleet,was nothing more than an oversight on my part."
Hepler said of Norfleet,who accompanied his wife to obtain the warrant, "He did not represent himself as anything other than the husband of an assaulted wife."
Norfleetwas also accused of misuse of authority in having a state police officerpick up the security video tape of the assault incident. Hall said only then Sheriff Black had the authority to authorize picking up evidence in the case.
In the sheriff department log for November, the entry for Nov. 24, 2007 indicates Black directed his department to refer the matter to Virginia State Police in order to avoid a possible conflictof interest.
The daughter of the defendant, as well as Leta Norfleet'sdaughter, both worked in the sheriff's department at the time of the assault. Black noted both in his direction to the department.
The log entry states, "Sheriff advises that if Leta Norfleetcomes in, refer her to a magistrate. If magistrate wants this investigated, contact VSP (Virginia State Police) - due to conflictof interest because of Dep. Wolfe; Cpl. Shelton working at BCSO."
Angie Wolfe, Sheriff Norfleet's step-daughter, has worked in the sheriff's department since 1999. Her duties have been those of a dispatcher even though until recently she was classified as a secretary, Norfleetsaid.
At the first of the year when Norfleettook over as sheriff, he had a dispatcher position open when Teresa Shelton was moved to the county as E-911 administrator. Norfleetmoved Wolfe from secretary to dispatcher classification.
"She was the next one in line for it," Norfleetsaid of the move. Her duties did not change and she was not promoted to corporal as alleged, he added. Pete Bird is the senior dispatcher, with Wolfe next in line.
"There was no preferential treatment," Norfleetsaid of the change. The move was an administrative one made by his chief deputy Major Richard Chestnut, said Norfleet.
Norfleetinsisted in February, the day after the allegations, "I've done nothing wrong."
At the supervisors' continued meeting last Thursday, neither of the issues regarding the assault nor the nepotism allegation was discussed.
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