FOIA Friday: Hopewell treasurer indicted on record forgery and fraud charges

File cabinets. (Getty)

One of the less noticed features of the Virginia Way is the long-running tendency of the commonwealth’s leaders to conduct their decision-making behind closed doors. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act presumes all government business is by default public and requires officials to justify why exceptions should be made, too many Virginia leaders in practice take the opposite stance, acting as if records are by default private and the public must prove they should be handled otherwise.

In this feature, we aim to highlight the frequency with which officials around Virginia are resisting public access to records on issues large and small — and note instances when the release of information under FOIA gave the public insight into how government bodies are operating.

Hopewell treasurer Shannon Foskey has been charged with two counts of forging and uttering a public record along with a count of computer fraud and a count of disabling computer software. The felony charges each carry a maximum 10-year prison sentence if Foskey is convicted. 

WTVR reported that Foskey’s office was raided last week by state police and that she was arrested after failing to pay her city taxes and allegedly used her position as treasurer to free a Department of Motor Vehicles hold on her car registration. Holds are placed when people fail to pay their taxes.

But Foskey denied that accusation,the Progress Index reported, and she claimed that her taxes had been repaid and that she’d been properly reinstated by the only other employee in her office that was authorized to do so. 

Her next court appearance will be Oct. 16. 

“Because the treasury is a constitutional office and doesn’t report to the city manager, the city has no comment,” a Hopewell city spokesperson said when WTVR inquired about the allegations and the arrest. 

When the Spotsylvania County School Board announced the firing of its former superintendent, Mark Taylor, earlier this year the reasons why weren’t publicly revealed. 

Now a wrongful termination lawsuit Taylor filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia reveals the reasons the board gave for his termination. It also shows that Taylor believes he was fired in retaliation for orchestrating a book fair last December that promoted Christrian literature. 

Taylor had partnered with former TV star-turned-evangelist Kirk Cameron, who spoke at the event, along with Christian book company Brave Books and SkyTree Book Fairs to host the event. His lawsuit claims that he acted as a private citizen “at all times” and used his own funds to pay for the event, the Fredericksburg Free Press reported. 

A letter from the school board’s lawyer to Taylor’s lawyer does not indicate that the book fair was a cause for his termination. 

The board’s lawyer does claim Taylor may have violated the Freedom of Information Act and alleges that he “made numerous documented offensive and inappropriate social media posts” FXBG Advance reported. 

The letter also mentioned that Taylor may have acted in violation of state law when he removed books deemed sexually explicit from school libraries in 2023 While Virginia has a law in place to require parental notification of books with sexually explicit content and provide alternatives for students whose parents disapprove, Taylor garnered attention last year for flagging books that the school board approved removal of in May. Virginia’s American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement that it was misrepresenting state law.

Also according to the exhibited letter from the board’s attorney, they believe there is no evidence that a vote was officially taken to approve his superintendent contract. Taylor had been a close friend of the former school board chair, who’d signed his contract, the Free Press reported.

Former Riverbend High School swim coach, Theodore Marcus, is seeking records he has requested through the Freedom of Information Act since January of this year. Marcus filed a petition asking Spotsylvania District Court to compel the school board, individual members Lisa Phelps and April Gillespie, as well as superintendent Clint Mitchell to release records that relate to a December 2023 incident involving the varsity swim team, FXBG Advance reported Thursday. 

The incident Marcus seeks answers about led to the disruption of the swim program and the resignations of himself — assistant coach at the time — and head coach Rachel Adriani. 

FXBG Advance reported that he would specifically like to see emails and text messages between Phelps, Gillespie, former superintendent Mark Taylor and former Riverbend principal Xavier Downs about the events leading up to and following “the contentious December 20, 2023, meeting with swim team coaches and parents and school administration.”

Following the meeting, Downs had been placed on administrative leave and was later  fired. Records produced so far in response to Marcus’ requests indicate such emails and texts do exist, his petition states. 

Though letters had been sent informing the parties they were subject to FOIA  by the school board chair and the division’s human resources director, Marcus’ petition argues more should have been done. 

His petition also asks the court to order the school division to release results of a third-party investigation into the swim team that it has previously withheld. When FXBG Advance requested a copy this past summer, the division declined, citing attorney-client privilege exemptions.

CSX railway wants the city of Richmond to make safety upgrades and accept liability in order to consider allowing recreational use of the Pipeline Trail, according to The Richmonder. 

The company’s director of state relations for Virginia wrote in an email that the railway’s initial agreement with the city for the walkway above the pipeline was “for installation and maintenance of the pipeline and did not authorize recreational or other access or use of our property.” 

The email, which The Richmond obtained through a FOIA request, shows more details surrounding the uncertainty of the local recreational space. Following a sewage leak in the summer, the trail was temporarily closed for repairs, but the appearance of a chain link fence at the catwalk entrance led to speculation about prolonged or permanent closure of the trail. A petition calling for its reopening has garnered over 2,000 signatures. 

Other  emails show conversations between the company and city of Richmond  officials. A spokesperson for CSX told The Richmonder that a more formal discussion between the entities should happen in the second half of October. 

Prince William County is going to focus on more transparency for future redistricting of its school boundaries, Inside NoVa reported. 

The approved changes comply with a recommendation from the school division and an outside consultant group. 

The revised policy, approved on Oct. 2, states that the redistricting process can only begin when a school is going to open, close or expand its capacity or when otherwise directed by the local school board. 

Redistricting criteria that will be considered include: current and projected school populations; local geography; and stability of school assignments over time. Student demographics will also be considered, in alignment with the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. When neighborhoods and communities are identified that may need to be changed,  a public engagement process will be initiated. 

Engagement can include town hall meetings, parent focus groups, work groups, roundtable discussions, and surveys, as well as electronic outreach. The school division will also be required to maintain a website dedicated to redistricting with information and opportunities for the public to provide feedback throughout the process.

Have you experienced local or state officials denying or delaying your FOIA request? Tell us about it: info@virginiamercury.com