CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — New developments are in the works related to a case involving the pastor of aVirginia Beach church.
John Blanchard was one of 17 people arrested in a 2021 Chesterfield County prostitution sting.
Blanchard was pastor of Rock Church in Virginia Beach at the time, and the church’s website currently shows him on the front page of its website.
Blanchard's charges were withdrawn last fall. The case was ruled as nolle prosequi, meaning there is insufficient evidence in a case to prove the defendant guilty and charges could be brought back.
In January 2023, Chesterfield County Police Chief, Col. Jeffrey S. Katz made a public statement on Facebook claiming that Blanchard's charges were not withdrawn due to a lack of evidence. You can read that full statement here.
On February 3, State Delegate Tim Anderson stated that his office made a Freedom of Information Act request involving the case.
“They turned over about 400 pages of internal emails and documents in the Chesterfield Police Department. One of the letters was a letter from Chief Katz to Stacey davenport,” Anderson stated.
Anderson says Chesterfield Police Department has discovered additional evidence and they gave it to Commonwealth’s Attorney Stacey Davenport who recently announced she would appoint a special prosecutor for this case.
“We don’t know what’s on it, but we know it’s a video that the Chief of Police thought was important enough to push to the Commonwealth’s Attorney right away and that the Commonwealth Attorney, two days later, calls a press conference and appoints a special prosecutor, so it’s something big, for sure,” Anderson said.
Delegate Anderson, who is also an attorney, said he has no clients that he’s representing in relation to the case against Blanchard. He said he is speaking out on this as a political figure and an interested party from Virginia Beach. He’s upset with the way Davenport handled the case.
“There’s plenty of evidence here for this case to move forward to a grand jury for indictment and forward to trial for a court to decide,” Delegate Anderson, who is also an attorney, stated. “Whether he’s found guilty or not, that’s not the standard. The standard is – you do your job. You may not win every case. You may lose it, but you prosecute the case.”
News 3 has reached out to Chesterfield Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office as well as representatives for John Blanchard for a comment on these latest developments. They have not yet responded. This is a developing story that will be updated.
