Halifax County office turmoil spills into courtroom


Turmoil in the Halifax County administrative office is spilling into the courtroom as County Planner Robbie Love and Finance Director Stephanie Jackson have a hearing date set next Wednesday to consider Jackson’s request for a protective order against Love.

Jackson already has taken out a preliminary order against Love alleging that he subjected her and her family “to an act of violence, force or threat,” as stated on the document form. She obtained the protective order on Feb. 4, five days after an alleged conversation involving Love and a mutual friend in which the county planner was said to have discussed owning a 9mm gun and “he was going to take everyone out.

“He went on to say that Jim Halasz, myself, James Edmunds were going to pay for what they had done,” wrote Jackson in a statement accompanying her request for court-ordered protection. The conversation, said to be between Love and a Social Services department employee, was relayed to Jackson after the fact and provides the basis for the order issued by General District Judge S. Anderson Nelson. In her request, Jackson asked that Love be kept 1,000 feet away from her and her family. The copy of the judge’s ruling does not stipulate a distance.

Efforts yesterday to contact lawyers for both Love and Jackson were unsuccessful. Love, reached by cell phone, declined to comment. He referred questions to his Richmond attorney, Barbara Queen, who did not respond to a request for comment.

Jackson is being represented by a Danville lawyer, Luis Abreu. He, too, did not return a call for comment.

In her statement to the court, date-stamped Feb. 4, Jackson did not elaborate on why the name of Edmunds, formerly a county supervisor and now a state delegate, came up in the alleged conversation between Love and Trish Barger, a DSS employee.

Barger is one of a half-dozen persons who have been subpoenaed to testify at a Feb. 18 hearing to determine whether to continue the protective order. Other expected witnesses include Halasz, the county administrator; Town of Halifax Police Chief Kevin Lands; E-911 managers for Halifax and Charlotte counties and an employee of a local attorney’s office.

The witness list could include General District Judge William Watson, who recused himself from the case citing that very reason. “Know the respondent and potential witness,” wrote Watson in a court filing.

Jackson’s statement begins:

“He stated he has a loaded 9mm.

“We have to pay.

“He is going to take us out.

“He threatened me, my family, and my job. He told others of his threats.”

The finance director wrote she was accompanied at the Feb. 2 Board of Supervisors meeting by sheriff deputies, one of whom sat beside her at the meeting and escorted her home afterward. The police presence factored into the most dramatic moment of the night: When Lisa Newbill, a former county employee who has pleaded guilty to charges of welfare fraud and perjury, was ejected from the room by sheriff’s deputies. The action came after Newbill created an uproar with her statement alleging a past relationship involving Jackson and former emergency services coordinator Kirby Saunders, now employed in North Carolina.

In her statement, Jackson also recounted a recent conversation with Lands, police chief for the Town of Halifax, regarding an incident from late November 2014. Jackson wrote that an unidentified man hidden in the woods had spied on her family, and she reported the incident to 911. “This became relevant when the Town of Halifax police chief called me last week and asked if it was Robbie Love was [sic] the person in our backyard.

“He shared that Mr. Love was a friend, had been acting erradictly [sic] for the last 6 months and voluntarily admitted himself for mental health treatment on 1/16/2015.” That day followed the publication of a News & Record article Jan. 15 in which Love and Saunders accused Halasz and Jackson of harassment and acts of intimidation inside the county administration building.

On his Facebook page in the aftermath of the interview, Love stated that this newspaper violated a confidentiality agreement in publishing the article. However, he later recanted his assertion and wrote that he stood by his published comments “200 percent.” The News & Record had made him no offer of confidentiality in reporting the matter.

“There has been recent false information being spread by Mr. Love against me in the community,” wrote Jackson in her statement to the court. “On 1/12/2015” — prior to the publication of the newspaper article — “he came into my office at work and suggested I should be concerned about my family & my job. The meeting was at my office and the door was open.”

Jackson also accused Love of making harassing comments of a sexual nature which “is being independently investigated by my employer.” Love was offered the chance to speak to the investigator but refused, she stated.

Halasz, contacted yesterday, confirmed that he has asked Halifax County Attorney Jeremy Carroll, a Roanoke lawyer, to head up an investigation into Love’s alleged conduct. Halasz said he asked the county attorney to coordinate the probe “so I can stay at arm’s length” — further acknowledging that Love’s criticisms of him personally made an outside review necessary.

Carroll himself has come in for criticism for having an alleged “a conflict of interest” from Board of Supervisors member William Bryant Claiborne, who tangled with Carroll during the contentious Feb. 2 Board of Supervisors session. Claiborne suggested that Carroll’s advice was tilted in favor of the opposing bloc on the evenly-divided Board, an accusation that Carroll rejected.

Carroll’s investigation comes after Halasz suspended Love and barred him from entering administration offices. (Love has been absent on leave since publication of the Jan. 15 article.) Asked about the decision yesterday, Halasz said the ban was no longer in effect since it is now superceded by Jackson’s preliminary protective order. “He’s still restricted from the workplace because of that order,” said the county administrator.

He said he instituted the ban against Love after receiving a Feb. 2 call from Sheriff Fred Clark warning of “a serious risk” to members of the administrative office in the wake of statements made by Love. “They thought I should take it very seriously, so for the safety of the workplace I took those steps” to keep him away from the premises.

Halasz also wrote an e-mail to Jackson, titled “Workplace Security,” that has been entered into the court record with Jackson’s protective order. The e-mail directs staff to call the sheriff or Halifax Town Police “if they see him in the building or on the property and to avoid any specific contact and stay calm.” If Love did show up, Halasz said he would instruct him “to immediately go to Matt Leonard’s office for cooperation in the investigation.” Halasz declined yesterday to comment on Leonard’s role in the matter. Leonard is the executive director of the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority.

Halasz also ordered Love’s access codes and cards to be deactivated, access to his office computer eliminated, and had the locks to the building changed.

“Otis and Chad have been authorized to carry concealed weapons in the workplace,” the memo continued. The reference is to Chad Loftis and Otis Vaughan, the county emergency services coordinator and building compliance officer, respectively.

Writing to Jackson, Halasz continued, “While you and I know we cannot create an environment that is 100% secure for anybody, I believe we have taken and are taking every prudent measure we can to insure the safety of you and all the staff. In fact, with these measures we are probably safer here than having lunch in Halifax or other places Robbie could show up.”

Halasz said yesterday that in addition to preventing Love from showing up for work, he has sent an e-mail to county staff prohibiting the recording of conversations in the office. He said he acted after personally witnessing a conversation being taped. He declined to say by whom.

“It was a clarification [of the personnel policy] on my part to indicate that wasn’t permitted,” he said. “People who are trying to do their jobs obviously don’t want to be surreptitiously recorded by someone else …. It borders on harassment and intimidation, obviously, and it’s very disruptive.”

Sheriff Clark was unavailable yesterday for comment for this story.

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