PALMYRA, VIRGINIA — A judge hearing an embezzlement case against a former Charlottesville police officer granted the commonwealth’s attorney’s motion to temporarily suspend the charges Friday morning in Fluvanna County Circuit Court.
Wilbert Davis Brassfield, a 10-year veteran of the Charlottesville police force, was accused in December of embezzling more than $10,000 from Courts of Praise Christian Fellowship in Fluvanna, where he served as pastor from the time the church opened its doors until 2010. The church has since closed.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Jeffery W. Haislip said he has reason to believe Brassfield embezzled funds from the church in order to pay off his “very delinquent mortgage.” He said that subpoenas issued to the out-of-state mortgage company have not been answered.
“It’d be a much stronger case with those documents,” he said in a phone interview Friday afternoon. As such, he asked the judge to “nolle prosequi” the charges, meaning that prosecution will stop, but that the charges may be raised again at a future date.
“This is not going away one way or the other,” Haislip said in court Friday. He said he intends to raise further charges against Brassfield at the August docket call, but is not yet sure what those charges will be.
“I don’t know if they’ll be related to these checks or other evidence that we have,” Haislip said outside of court.
Brassfield’s court-appointed defense attorney, James Cooke, asked the judge to dismiss the charges altogether, saying that Brassfield lost his job as a school resource officer because of the case.
“My client has been a police officer his entire career,” Cooke said.
Though the case has no future court dates at this time, Haislip said he will continue to evaluate the evidence and try to get documents from the mortgage company.
