How did we get here? The road to felony charges against Purcellville vice mayor and town manager
A scandal erupted this week in Purcellville, Virginia, related to the arrest of vice mayor and former town police officer Carl “Ben” Nett.
Nett was arrested Wednesday and is facing six counts related to bid-rigging following a Virginia State Police investigation that was authorized by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. Town manager and former mayor Kwasi Fraser was also charged with two felony counts and turned himself in.
On Friday, during a special meeting, the Purcellville Town Council voted 6-0 to put Fraser on an administrative leave with pay, according to Loudoun Now. Diana Hays, who served as the assistant town manager, was also appointed to serve as interim town manager.
But, what sparked the investigations that led to the charges against Nett and Fraser?
“What got our attention a couple of months ago was that the town precipitously announced that it was going to dissolve its police department without a plan to actually replace it,” said Tom Julia, communications director at the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
“That was done … without any consultation with the sheriff’s office, which would have to do it, nor with the county government, which would have to fund it.”
This triggered additional investigations to figure out what led to the decision.
“There was a vacancy in the police chief position, and a consultant was brought in by the town to determine what the town should do insofar as perpetuating its police department restructuring, and potentially, even over time, seeking to dissolve it and have it absorbed within the county police department,” Julia said.
Julia noted that Nett wanted to keep the department and then be its chief.
“It is asserted that he had some involvement with the bidding process on the consultant. It is asserted, furthermore, that when that did not go his way, somehow this discussion of dissolving the police department then came about,” Julia added.
Questions emerged about the town manager’s role in the consultant bidding process and whether to keep or dissolve the police department.
Julia said Fraser’s appointment as town manager also came under scrutiny because it was supposed to be an interim role. However, he was named as permanent town manager without “a competitive interview and bidding process.”
“So all of this sort of brings up issues of … the legality and appropriateness of actions by the council as a whole, and actions of certain members of local government that called for the indictment of these two individuals on a series of charges,” he said.
Julia seemed astounded that a town would even attempt to dissolve its police department, calling it “somewhat unprecedented.”
“What were the decisions that led up to that, and what were the potential motivations? And that’s how we get where we are today. You can’t just suggest that you’re going to dissolve your police department and someone else is going to do that job without actually sitting down with us and working it out,” Julia said.
WTOP’s Nick Iannelli contributed to this report.