FOIA Friday: New videos depict Otieno’s last days; audit reveals Richmond finance failures

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. 

WRIC has obtained never-before-seen video footage of Irvo Otieno, a  28-year-old Black man who was placed under emergency police custody while in mental distress at his mothers home before dying in custody at a state-run psychiatric hospital in March 2023.

The videos showed Otieno cursing and threatening law enforcement, as his mother “repeatedly explains that he’s in distress, asks when mental health help is arriving and tries to tell officers that how they are interacting with Otieno is exacerbating his distress,” the TV news station reported. WRIC said the video footage did not show Otieno physically engaging with law enforcement at the home.

According to the news outlet, the collection of footage captures the events over three days beginning when Henrico Police responded to his mother’s house, where Otieno was placed under an emergency custody order, to his ultimate death at Central State Hospital.

Officers took Otieno to Parham Doctors’ Hospital and the video footage shows him there, where he was shackled to a bed and threatened hospital staff and officers trying to restrain him. Officers struck Otieno multiple times, and he struck an officer while partially restrained, as staff attempted to treat him, the video shows.

Scathing report calls for a ban of prone restraint tactics

Otieno didn’t see a psychiatrist during the six hours he was in the Parham Doctors’ Hospital’s emergency department, a state investigation showed, and the facility didn’t comply with treatment guidelines for mentally ill patients. The hospital later reported that they weren’t able to fully stabilize Otieno because Henrico Police officers interrupted their care. 

Otieno was charged with three counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct in a hospital and vandalism and taken to the Henrico County Jail, where he was strapped to a restraining chair for at least 11 hours, according to experts who reviewed the case. Otieno’s condition deteriorated inside a cell at the jail before officers took him to Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County, where he died.

Previously released video of Otieno’s time at the psychiatric hospital show him being restrained and pressed to the floor by hospital workers and officers before his body goes limp and workers try to resuscitate him, unsuccessfully. Prosecutors initially charged seven sheriff’s deputies and three hospital workers with  second-degree murder in Otieno’s death, but many of those charges were dropped. Now, just three defendants, a hospital orderly and two deputies, face charges of involuntary manslaughter. 

Last September, Otieno’s family settled on an $8.5 million settlement with Virginia, Henrico, and the county’s sheriff’s office. The case has raised awareness about the challenges of Virginia’s mental health treatment system and prompted calls for reform from state legislators, advocates and high profile leaders such as civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented Otieno’s family.

Audit shows pattern of failures in Richmond’s finance department

The city of Richmond’s finance department “ignored multiple emails, voicemails, service requests” and failed to process taxpayer forms, according to a WTVR report informed by a records request.

The department’s poor performance was the subject of an audit requested by Richmond leaders and conducted by consultant Anne Seward after the city faced questions from restaurant owners about “unfair meals tax late fees and collection practices.” 

Seward found several cases of customer service deficiencies, including employees who were found sleeping at work and displaying unprofessional conduct. 

Department leaders also failed to monitor customer concerns, the report stated, as indicated by 7,000 emails the agency received but didn’t respond to, 3,400 personal property tax service requests that had not been addressed for eight months, and six months of ignored voicemails.

WTVR reported that Seward billed the city over $130,000 for her work. Her contract ends in December.

George Mason University’s Men’s Basketball Team was slated to soak up some sun during a five-day, four-night trip to Nassau for the Bahamas Bash Basketball Tournament last month.

However, the team’s plans were dashed days before they were supposed to depart, when the university learned that the team’s airfare and lodging accommodations had not been secured. Mason paid the Georgia-based tournament promoter and event consultancy The VIII Group about $160,000, according to Sportico.

The records revealed a signed April 3 agreement between The George Mason University Foundation and The VII Group. The contract stated that if The VII Group canceled the event, the promoter would refund payments made aside from the foundation’s “original deposit,” which was considered non-refundable.

“Records show GMU athletic officials held a Zoom call with The VII Group on July 24 and, by the start of last month, were still preparing as if the trip was a go,” Sportico reported.

But on Aug. 7, less than a day before the trip was supposed to start, Mason’s athletic director Marvin Lewis emailed The VII Group, accusing them of breaching the contract and demanding total compensation. In follow-up emails, The VII Group owner Christopher Williams acknowledged the company’s inability to fulfill the contract. He later said in an email that Mason should have “everything finalized and paid back” by Aug. 23.

On Aug. 16, Christian Roccia, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Northern Virginia Resident Agency, emailed George Mason’s athletics department, asking the department’s deputy athletic director Zack Bolno about “scheduling a meeting with someone from your office regarding the topic we discussed,” the email read. Sportico obtained the email in response to a records request. 

Bolno forwarded the inquiry to GMU athletic director Marvin Lewis, who then shared it with Eli Schlam, a lawyer with the university.

“We received a call and email from an FBI agent inquiring about the Bahamas trip. Will you advise on the appropriate next steps? … I can follow up but wanted to check-in prior to responding to the agent,” Lewis’ email read. Schlam directed Lewis to get further guidance from Carl Rowan, Jr., the chief of GMU’s campus police unit.

Sportico said records did not show any further communications on the topic. It appears that the situation has not been cleared up, as Lewis said in a Sept. 6 letter to “Mason Nation” students and fans “the university continues to work with The VII Group to resolve this matter and secure a full refund for those directly impacted.”

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