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Virginia Beach Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler (D) publicly called out the sheriff for allegedly firing her husband after she reached out to him about a Virginia Beach deputy who attended the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington D.C.
“A concerned citizen shared a video with me of a Virginia Beach Sheriff Deputy at the Capitol on January 6. I have been a target to some of these extremist, so I let our Sheriff Ken Stolle know hoping he would help. Did Stolle do anything? Yes! He fired my husband this morning,” Convirs-Fowler said in a tweet Tuesday.
Stolle, a former member of the Virginia state Senate for 18 years has been the sheriff in Virginia Beach since 2010. He responded to the first statement from Convirs-Fowler but he did not provide any new details other than to say that her husband was placed on administrative leave until the end of his term and would not be brought back to the department.
“You didn’t even meet with me to get the information or video of your deputy at the Capitol on January 6. He also has III%er (3%er) stuff all over his page,” Convirs-Fowler then responded. “Is he on Administrative leave? The next day my husband is let go. I thought we were short deputies? Hmmmm.”
For context, 3%ers are a part of a far-right, anti-government militia movement that is tied to Jan. 6.
“She never provided me with any information other than to say that she had a name of someone who was there, which she never provided,” Stolle then responded in a comment to another Twitter user. “No one from the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office (VBSO) was involved in any criminal activity at the Capitol and there is no correlation whatsoever to her husband’s employment.”
Stolle also responded to Virginia Scope on Twitter. “The FBI found no one from the VBSO broke any law. Anyone found to have broken the law has been named and indicted. That includes no one on my past or present staff.”
Convirs-Fowler said that the citizen who provided her with the evidence also gave it to the FBI. “The Citizen said they reported it to the FBI already,” she tweeted Tuesday. “But I was pretty concerned for LEOs knowing this Deputy TRAINS other Deputies.”
Stolle then accused Convirs-Fowler of trying to withhold evidence to get an in-person meeting with him. “You withheld information because my schedule wouldn’t allow for an in-person meeting when you wanted it. If you were truly concerned, you would have provided the information you had so that it could be investigated. I had already decided who I was appointing come Jan. 1,” Stolle tweeted. “You could have texted it, emailed it, sent it by carrier pigeon even. You withheld to use as fodder for a political stunt.”
“I’m not mad, because I know my deputies have done nothing wrong,” Stolle continued. “And I’m not trying to be a hero, I’m ensuring I have the best deputies to serve the citizens of #VirginiaBeach. That no longer includes Sgt. Fowler.”
“How would I be pulling a stunt? I didn’t know you were ‘firing’ him?” Convirs-Fowler then asked. “He didn’t know he had to meet with you until yesterday afternoon. I mean there’s a paper trail and documentation so I’m not sure you realize how obvious this is to everyone.”
Stolle continued to stand by the officer in the video and noted that the FBI apparently cleared everyone from his department. “No one from the VBSO participated in any insurrectionist activity or they would be prosecuted and fired. Period,” he tweeted. “This is a ridiculous witch hunt started by the wife of a disgruntled soon-to-be-former appointee.”
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