RICHMOND, Va. -- Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Timothy Martin has decided to investigate whether Richmond’s mayor broke any laws when his administration hired a company to remove the city’s Confederate monuments.
Martin, who was appointed by a Richmond Circuit Court judge in September, will investigate a $1.8 million contract with the company NAH LLC for the removal of the Confederate monuments in July.
Martin will now make a formal request to Attorney General Mark Herring to investigate the case. If approved, the Virginia State Police will get the case and conduct an investigation.
CBS 6 reached out to Martin, but he declined to issue a statement on the case, citing privacy issues for any potential defendant.
The company NAH LLC is linked to a Newport News-based contracting firm whose owner, Devon Henry, has donated $4,000 to Stoney’s campaign and political action committee since 2016.
Richmond Councilwoman Kim Gray, who challenged Stoney in the 2020 mayoral election,brought the contract into question in August and asked Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin to investigate. She declined, citing a conflict of interest with Henry.
Stoney has denied any wrongdoing.
The Stoney administration says that the city reached out to six major firms in the Richmond region offering the contract. The mayor says only NAH LLC/Team Henry expressed willingness to take on the "personal risk" associated with the job.
When CBS 6 originally filed a FOIA request for information about the removal of the statues, the contract we received showed the shell company, NAH LLC, as the contractor, and did not list any names.
According to the SCC website, NAH LLC was created on June 22, just 10 days before the first statue came down.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
