A heavily redacted version of a report by Martinsville’s attorneys sheds little light on the ongoing investigation into misconduct allegations against former City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides.

The version of the report, which summarized an investigation conducted by the Sands Anderson Law Firm, provided Monday to Cardinal News following a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request is 28 pages long, each page almost completely covered in black redaction. 

On Aug. 27 a less-redacted report was provided to Martinsville Commonwealth’s Attorney Andy Hall, who referred the case to Bedford County’s Wes Nance to take over as special prosecutor. In the weeks since starting his role, Nance said he has worked alongside Virginia State Police to gather evidence. 

“So the Virginia State Police are presently investigating the concerns that resulted in my appointment,” Nance said in a Nov. 25 email. “We remain in communication and, at the proper time, will meet to determine whether their findings support any criminal charges.”

Nance declined to confirm if his office received any version of Sands Anderson’s report. 

On Aug. 26, a motion to release Sands Anderson’s report to the public failed to get a majority of votes from the conflicted council. Councilors were split on the decision, with council member Aaron Rawls expressing a desire to release the report in its entirety for the sake of transparency. The council voted 2-2, with Julian Mei voting with Rawls and Mayor L.C. Jones abstaining. 

The heavily redacted report is one of three versions of the same report that have been circulated to councilors and Hall; one has fewer redactions and the other is unredacted. Cardinal’s FOIA request was for the redacted version given to council members, but FOIA officer Kaylin Hernandez said she could only provide a more redacted version. 

“However, there is a version that was provided to Ms. Ferrell Benavides with all but the attorney bios redacted,” Hernandez wrote in a Nov. 24 email. “While everything else is exempt at the moment, we can provide this to you if you are interested.”

Topics related to personnel records, legal counsel advice, records of prepared materials, closed meeting records, and investigator notes were excluded, according to Hernandez. Biographical information of the report’s primary authors, attorneys Faith Alejandro and Joshua Rogers, make up the bulk of the unredacted portion of the heavily redacted report. 

Ferrell-Benavides’ legal counsel confirmed receipt of the more heavily redacted version.   

“There is nothing there,” Ferrell-Benavides attorney Paul Goldman said. “They basically redacted everything that was at issue.”

Sands Anderson provided copies of the partially redacted report to council members on Aug. 15. Rawls described having limited access to the unredacted version. 

“Yes, we have seen physical copies of the workplace investigative report,” Rawls wrote in a Nov. 13 email to Cardinal. “I have a redacted version and can view the unredacted version at any time with the city attorney.” 

Rawls declined to provide Cardinal News with a copy of the report given to city councilors. 

The heavily redacted version is dated Aug. 7.

A brief introduction is followed by paragraphs of redacted text. A table of several redacted names shows that Sands Anderson conducted multiple interviews as part of its investigation. Goldman confirmed that Ferrell-Benavides was interviewed three times. 

“On behalf of Sands Anderson, we appreciate the opportunity to assist the City of Martinsville by providing our findings and legal analysis as a result of our investigation,” reads the unredacted introduction. 

“This report represents the independent opinions of Alejandro and Rogers,” reads part of the report. “They reached their conclusions after a thorough investigation and based on the totality of the evidence reviewed.”

“They investigated all matters they believed were relevant to reaching their conclusions.”

The pair’s conclusions were among the report’s redacted parts.