RICHMOND, Va. -- The Criminal Justice Services Board voted unanimously Friday to uphold the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Service’s previous decision to decertify former Colonial Heights Police Chief Jeff Faries.
Faries had attempted to appeal the decertification, but failed to show up for his appeal hearing on Nov. 3.
VDCJS decertified Faries more than a year ago after the Colonial Heights Police Police Department notified the agency that Faries met the “statutory requirements” for decertification.
Faries alerted the board in late December of 2022 that he was appealing the decertification, but since then, every time an appeal hearing was set, Faries asked for a continuance.
“It’s been continued six times, and we’ve heard every excuse possible I believe for a continuance,” Colonial Heights City Attorney Hugh “Chip” Fisher said during the hearing.
The decertification coordinator, Jonathan Banberger, set a hearing for Nov. 3 that would happen no matter what, and Faries was told that any further continuance requests would need to be made in person or via Zoom to the board.
And, yet, Faries did not make it to the meeting.
“Mr Jeffrey Faries are you on the Zoom?” Banberger asked. “Mr. Faries are you on the Zoom?”
There was no reply as Faries was not on the Zoom or present at the meeting.
The board opted to move forward without him and heard evidence from Fisher about why Faries’ former employer requested Faries be decertified.
Fisher said that several former players from the Colonial Heights High School softball team, as well as parents, told City Councilwoman Dr. Laura Poe, that Faries made inappropriate comments to players when he was their coach, accusations previously reported by CBS 6.
“There was another incident recounted by one of the players where a player bent over to retrieve softball equipment from the trunk of her car, and Chief Faries commented to one of the young ladies, ‘I’d like to spank that,’” Fisher told the board.
Fisher also said Faries exhibited grooming behavior toward the girls on social media by using fire and heart emojis on some of their posts.
“Why a middle aged man would have this sort of relationship with a 14, 15, 16-year-old young lady is beyond me,” Fisher said at the hearing.
Fisher also mentioned that a special prosecutor asked to review a state police investigation into Faries’ conduct as softball coach determined Faries committed a misdemeanor, but the statute of limitations had expired so she could not prosecute him.
He added that Faries initially refused to turn in his city issued iPad when he was placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation.
When he finally did turn it is, Fisher said it had been wiped clean and reset on factory settings.
“It is difficult for me to imagine a clearer instance of rank insubordination than what was committed by Chief Faries,” Fisher told the board.
After hearing from Colonial Heights, the board voted to uphold the decision to decertify Faries, which means he can no longer serve as a law enforcement officer.
Previously, the division director for DCJS told CBS 6 that, to his knowledge, this was the first time a police chief has ever been decertified in Virginia.
Faries can appeal the decertification again to the circuit court.
If he chooses not to, he is eligible for reinstatement after five years and must present his request to the DCJS board.
In the past, Faries said he cooperated fully with the investigation, that he has never hugged or made contact with a minor in an improper manner, and that he believed he did nothing wrong.
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