[This is a response to Frederick County Sheriff Lenny Millholland’s statement from yesterday.]

Saturday, November 20, 2021 (10:55 am) MIDDLETOWN – “On Friday, November 19, 2021, the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release regarding an incident between myself, two deputies, and the presently elected Sheriff.  Please allow me to begin by saying thank you to every man and women who puts on the uniform each day and upholds their Constitutional Oath of office.

“The release has several items that are factually incorrect and several items wherein the truth has been stretched to fit a narrative. The article references an incident on Election Day, November 2, 2021, where an individual called for law enforcement because I was taking pictures to document an unlawful practice occurring. Prior to taking pictures, I had called both the Virginia Department of Elections and the local Registrars Office to notify them of the violation of state election law which was taking place by those representing the Democrat Party of Frederick County.

“As I was taking pictures, one individual called for law enforcement stating that I was intimidating her by taking pictures when she had asked me to stop.  Please know that the incident occurred at a public place and there is no law prohibiting pictures being taken in that area. All photos were obtained to document the violations of election law that were occurring. At the time of the photos being obtained, all were obtained legally.

“The first deputy that arrived was Deputy Kennedy. He was extremely rude and suggested not less than five times that I should stop taking pictures.  In response, I asked what I had done wrong? What had I done that was against the law? He indicated that he didn’t want to have to come back out there and that if someone asks you to stop taking pictures, you (meaning I) should probably stop.

“I had done nothing wrong.  I then showed him the piece of paper that those representing the Democrat Party had been distributing as I had received my copy from the Shawnee District Supervisor Candidate Kennedy prior to his departure from the polling place. We had been handing out competing sample ballots within talking range for over an hour previously. As I showed the materials and violations of the Virginia Code, Deputy Kennedy had no desire to discuss, investigate, or correct the real violation of the law that had been previously occurring. I was nothing but respectful to Deputy Kennedy, which can be viewed in its entirety by viewing his body camera.  During our interaction, Deputy Kennedy was both rude and displayed many facial, hand motion, and other gestures that clearly indicated he was not happy being there and was, in my humble opinion, arrogant. 

“About five minutes after Deputy Kennedy’s departure, his supervisor showed up at the location with Deputy Kennedy in tow. I greeted Sgt. Smith and had a positive and respectful conversation with him. I informed him of the actions of his employee, which had been far from professional, and asked that it be followed up on.  These actions can be viewed as well in their entirety on body camera.

“The following day I reached out to Sheriff Millholland to discuss these matters as it is not unlawful to take photos of a crime being committed in a public place, and the actions by Deputy Kennedy were repulsive. After some discussion, I described to the Sheriff that, in my opinion, the deputy acted like an asshole, which describes the situation as clearly as I can define it. I informed the Sheriff that it is my belief that the deputy prohibited me from fully documenting an unlawful act that was committed and that he was obstructing justice as well as other matters relating this case by his actions. 

“This matter is of considerable concern to me as there appears, in my opinion, to be a pattern of the Sheriff and some of his deputies not adhering to their Constitutional Oath of Office. This case is very simple. There are hard factual pieces of evidence that were obtained at numerous polling places in Frederick County that show that the Code of Virginia Election law was not followed.  There has been no discussion with me or others from my team in an attempt by the Sheriff to get any facts pertaining to this case.

“I wonder if election integrity really matters to Sheriff Millholland.  Is your Constitutional right to vote being protected? I further have pause, and wonder, if there is cause for further investigation into this incident as one of the Sheriff’s own personnel was running for a seat in this district in which this incident occurred. Was there an attempt to keep this matter from becoming public as some of the sample ballots being handed out had his deputy’s name on them?

“There is further cause for concern as there was another incident that occurred in August of 2020, with several other presently sitting supervisors, where a physical altercation occurred at a primary polling location. The Sheriff’s Office, when called, indicated they were not going to respond. A while later, they arrived and refused to take the information to defuse the situation. The Sheriff, after the fact, went on making very unpleasant remarks to a current sitting supervisor. 

“Further compounding my concerns on the Sheriff protecting your constitutional rights, do you remember the incident that put Frederick County on the map as it pertains to the Democrat’s Red Flag Laws? Yes, that’s correct, your very own Frederick County Sheriff, who claims to represent the people and the Constitution, instituted one of the first Red Flag Law gun confiscations in Virginia. Thankfully, the judge saw the move and returned the man’s property after merely a few days. But this all leads me to my initial question. Will Sheriff Millholland defend your constitutional rights?

“I have the evidence to back up what I have laid out above. There were election laws broken in Frederick County on Election Day of 2021. Let’s find out what happened and get the facts. Once the new administration that was duly elected gets seated in January, I will be forwarding this information to the Attorney General’s office for their review.  I believe your constitutional rights should be guarded.

“Sadly, I worry we don’t have a sheriff that agrees with me on this issue. I would invite you to reach out to me to discuss this important issue as I will be exploring my own run for Sheriff of Frederick County in 2023 to ensure everyone’s constitutional rights are preserved. 

“Thank you for allowing me to present my beliefs as it pertains to our core fundamental beliefs in the Constitution of the United States.”

From Shawn Graber, Back Creek District Supervisor

Edited by Dan McDermott editor@warrencountyreport.com