Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith is blasting Republican opponent Neil Kester for engaging in a “smear campaign” targeting him in his re-election bid.
Smith issued a statement late Tuesday, a day after Kester held a press conference to discuss the allegations against the sheriff, asserting that he was never a target of a federal investigation in the case of friend Felix Chujoy, who was sentenced in 2018 for his role in a labor trafficking scheme involving a Harrisonburg eatery.
An anonymous video released online in August highlights Smith’s relationship with Chujoy, who, along with his mother, Maria Rosalba Alvarado, the owner of The Inca’s Secret Shop, reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors on the charges in 2017.
Alvarado pleaded guilty to two felony counts of harboring people who entered the country illegally and two misdemeanors of hiring immigrants not permitted to work in the U.S.
Chujoy pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting, and was also found guilty by a jury in 2018 on felony counts of witness tampering and obstruction.
Smith, then an Augusta County sheriff’s deputy, befriended Chujoy in 2010 after the two met while training at a CrossFit gym in Harrisonburg.
Smith said he was made aware of the investigation into the labor trafficking charges in December 2014 and met with investigators.
The video makes the case that Smith was not completely forthright in his meetings with investigators, and raises issue with Smith’s decision to allowed Chujoy, after being accused of attempts at witness tampering, to use his mobile phone.
According to reporting by the News Leader, advertisements in the Leader and placed on digital billboards locally have been tracked back to a PAC calling itself Stop Trafficking Augusta, whose president, according to a statement of organization is Evan Ajin, the vice president of operations with Nexus Service.
The Augusta County-based Nexus joined with the Waynesboro social justice group RISE and the New Black Panthers of Waynesboro to lead a demonstration at the Augusta County Courthouse earlier this month aimed at Smith.
Another PAC, Keep Augusta Great, also appears to be associated with the ads. That PAC tracked back to a Scott Cline who is a former local Republican Party leader.
Kester acknowledged this week that Cline had been a volunteer with his campaign, but that Cline is no longer involved with his campaign.
“I did not violate the law,” Smith said in his Tuesday statement.
“I will not take part in that kind of negativity, because the citizens of Augusta County deserve better,” Smith said. “I am honored to be running for re-election to continue to serve as the people’s sheriff of Augusta County. Serving and protecting our community is where my focus remains along with my loyalty.”
Story by Chris Graham
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