Richmond prosecutors have questioned staff in the city’s Office of Elections as part of an investigation into the conduct of former Registrar Keith Balmer, according to electoral board Chair Starlet Stevens.
It is not clear whether that investigation is ongoing. Court records show no charges against Balmer, who could not be reached for comment. Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin, meanwhile, declined to comment.
Balmer, who had helmed the city’s elections office since 2021, resigned in December after an investigation by City Hall’s inspector general found that he and his deputy had committed fraud and abused public funds. The Times-Dispatch previously reported that Balmer’s city-issued credit card was suspended after he racked up tens of thousands of dollars in charges at restaurants and hotels and on high-end furniture and art.
When asked about the allegations against Balmer, McEachin previously said that her office does not employ investigators and indicated that probing Balmer’s behavior was an issue for law enforcement.
However, on Thursday, Stevens said that prosecutors began interviewing “every single employee” in the elections office in April.
“They came into the office and talked to all of them, even the temp employees,” said Stevens, who chairs the three-person local Board of Elections that oversees the city’s elections office and its staff.
A month later, Stevens herself was summoned to McEachin’s office inside the John Marshall Court Building, where Richmond’s top prosecutor queried her personally, she said.
McEachin wanted to know “how things unfolded,” Stevens said, and asked her about when and how she had become aware of Balmer’s spending habits. Stevens was not told whether criminal charges were likely or given a timeframe for those charges should they be filed.
“They said they were still looking at it,” Stevens said.
That’s left her frustrated about what she described as a lack of accountability in city government.
“I’m worried they’re going to run out the clock on this,” Stevens said. “If (McEachin) doesn’t do something about this situation, it will happen again. Maybe not in our office, but in another division of the government. It sends a message out there, you know, ‘hey, you can do this, you’ll probably be under the radar and even if you get caught, they won’t do anything.’”
Balmer was among multiple employees to face scrutiny of their credit card spending. His deputy, Jerry Richardson, announced her retirement in December after charging $80,000 to her card — and using it to buy a gun and ammunition — in 2023.
Meanwhile, former city spokesperson Petula Burks resigned in July after The Times-Dispatch asked about her use of $100,000 in city funds at firms connected to her former business partner.
Then-Mayor Levar Stoney insisted that the city’s credit program was well-managed and monitored closely. But his successor, Mayor Danny Avula, temporarily suspended over 80% of the cards only four months into his term.
The pause came in advance of a city audit of the program, which found that poor oversight and controls had resulted in $5 million in “questionable expenditures” between July 2022 and May 2024.
The inspector general’s office is currently reviewing expenditures by Reginald Thomas: a former management analyst in the Richmond Fire Department. The Times-Dispatch previously reported that Thomas had used his credit card, invoices and purchase orders to spend over $2 million in public funds at businesses connected to himself and associates.