RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond's top prosecutor confirmed her office is reviewing an investigation report of the city's elections office, which substantiated 25 allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse within the department.
On Monday, Richmond Inspector General James Osuna, City Hall's government watchdog, released the findings of his investigation into alleged misspending and misconduct by General Registrar Keith Balmer and his employees.
Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin said her prosecutors "will make a decision about legal options following a thorough assessment" of the report.
CBS 6 legal analyst Todd Stone, a former Richmond prosecutor and current defense attorney, said the report would serve as a "jumping off point" for prosecutors, but they would likely want to review supporting documentation and other evidence.
“This report outlines some things that I'm sure would get the attention of a prosecutor," Stone said. “A lot of times in a case like this, the thing that raises such a suspicion is when you see a lot of smoke, there's often a little bit of fire somewhere.”
In his report, Osuna said General Registrar Keith Balmer and his deputy registrar wasted taxpayer dollars and abused their authority by contracting private security services without proper authorization between January and May 2024.
Osuna said the company invoiced the city $200,000 during that timeframe and provided personal guards for Balmer who accompanied him to outside events, which Osuna deemed unreasonable.
In his report, Osuna said Balmer also wasted money by approving $230,000 in remodeling work on their leased office building without permission from the landlord's property manager and circumvented the procurement process by splitting up the purchases over 21 orders.
The report said another $16,000 was wasted on artwork, $14,000 on high-end office furniture, and $2,300 on consulting work performed by Balmer's spouse.
The inspector general also cited fraud against Balmer for submitting false information on government spending card forms.
“There's lots of potential offenses that a criminal prosecutor would be considering. Among those, forgery of public records. That's a felony offense. There are embezzlement offenses. There's other things that a prosecutor could be considering, and I'm sure they'd want to flesh this out more and really talk to the witnesses," Stone said.
The investigation also found that Balmer and employees bought alcohol with government spending cards, drank during work hours, and violated policies for travel and meal expenses.
Stone said those claims are more administrative and likely wouldn't concern a prosecutor.
“It’s more about just negligent actions and not really following through with the bureaucracy and things you're supposed to do," Stone said.
He added it's important to remember Osuna's findings at this point are allegations.
He said a prosecutor's burden in court would be to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a high bar. Administrative policy violations have a lower bar.
“I think we should all keep an open mind about it obviously and not jump to conclusions," Stone said.
Balmer has not yet responded to the allegations in the report.
In a statement posted to the Office of Elections' social media on Tuesday, Balmer said he would be addressing the report in the coming days and has "got a lot to say."
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