BOONES MILL, VA – The election is less than two weeks away - and now one Boones Mill Mayoral candidate is facing charges.
Whitey Taylor is charged with three counts of assault and battery, and one count of indecent exposure by three different women - who he tells us were his employees.
But - the charges came days after the alleged incidents, filed not by law enforcement, but by the women themselves.
“They have to swear that what they’re saying is the absolute truth,” Criminologist and Former Law Enforcement Officer Dr. Tod Burke said.
Private citizens pressing charges without going through law enforcement is actually pretty common. The process is simple, but there are a lot of safeguards that keep everyone involved protected.”
“The citizen has decided to kind of do this on their own without the initial law enforcement involvement,” Burke said.
Burke tells us just because someone files a charge, it doesn’t mean there is an immediate arrest.
“They will go down to the courthouse either in front of a judge or a magistrate and do a written complaint. And this written complaint is under oath,” he said.
That means just like with a police report, if you don’t tell the truth under oath, you’ll face the consequences.
“They are subject to perjury,” he said.
That’s just one safeguard. In Franklin County, only misdemeanors can be filed in this way - and the judge or magistrate still has to approve your complaint.
“If there’s really not enough in the written complaint for a judge or magistrate to issue a warrant, then what they’ll do, they’ll simply hand back the complaint saying, ‘I’m sorry, there’s just really not enough here to move forward,’” Burke said.
But in Taylor’s case. A warrant was issued. And that’s when law enforcement steps in, and everything proceeds like a normal case.
10 News spoke with Taylor who tells me the charges are false. He believes these charges are an attempt of election interference, and he welcomes the publicity this is bringing to his campaign.
We reached out to the women who filed the charges but have not heard back.
Taylor’s arraignment for all four charges is October 30
