CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Tuesday night, Amanda Newins sat with other members of the Chesapeake city council for their scheduled meeting.
This meeting took place one week after a grand jury returned an indictment for Newins, charging her with financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
These accusations weren't discussed by Newins or other city council members at Tuesday night's meeting.
News 3 tried to speak with Newins afterward, but we were not able to reach her.
Chesapeake Mayor Rick West did not want to go on camera, but directed News 3 to a statement he made on Facebook regarding Newins’s allegations:
“City council is elected to pass policies and to hire a City Manager to carry out those policies. Nothing has happened nor will anything happen to change that. The citizen in Chesapeake clearly understand only one side of the accusations against Councilman Newins have been presented. They will wait to hear her side before making judgements. If we ever allow mere allegations to affect how we govern we will have abandoned our democratic principles.”
READ: Grand jury indicts Chesapeake City Councilwoman Amanda Newins on felony charge
News 3 also reached out to Todd Stone and Ed Riley, two Virginia criminal defense attorneys, to talk more about the charge of 'financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.'
“It’s a very serious charge,” Stone, a former prosecutor, told News 3. “A vulnerable adult could be anything from developmental disabilities to mental or physical disabilities, or disabilities related to their age where they just aren’t quite as sharp as they used to be.”
“Typically, it involves the elderly. Not always, but normally that’s what we see,” Riley added.
Both have experience working cases with this charge and said these cases can be difficult to prosecute.
“It’s very difficult really in those gray areas because you don’t know what someone intended or not often times,” Riley said.
“You typically want to have a good, solid witness to testify for the prosecution, but if you’ve got someone who’s a vulnerable adult, then inherently, there are some issues there,” Stone added.
News 3 also asked both attorneys what people can do to protect their family members when avoiding situations involving charges like this.
“There’s something called a special needs trust, that can be created where money is handled just through the trust,” Stone said. “You have a commissioner of accounts in a local jurisdiction that would be monitoring that on an annual basis.”
“You document everything, even if you think you’re entitled to that money, you keep that receipt. You document that so if someone wants to challenge that, you’ve got the receipts,” Riley said. “Be involved. Be involved with that loved one, whoever that might be, as best as you can.”
Following Tuesday night’s meeting, News 3 also went to speak with Chesapeake City Manager Chris Price if he had anything to say about the situation involving Newins, but he did not have any comment on the matter.
