Jury finds Portsmouth councilman guilty of forgery charges

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A jury on Wednesday found a Portsmouth councilman guilty on three felony forgery charges. 

Outside the courthouse Councilman Mark Whitaker said it wasn’t the outcome he and his family were hoping for.

“I definitely feel it was unfair, that decision by the jury,” said Whitaker. I don’t agree with it. There was not one bit of  evidence introduced that I was the one who did any of this, so it was purely a circumstantial case, and the Commonwealth was determined to silence my voice. This will not do it.”

One of the jury instructions was jurors could consider circumstantial evidence. 

The 12 jurors believed Kevin Blount, who said on the stand that he told Mark Whitaker, “I did not want to sign a loan from the credit union or borrow the money, I won’t do this,” he remembers telling Whitaker. 

Yet Blount’s name ended up on credit union documents. The seven loans for $5,000 each, and two were to Blount and his company, were to pay for the demolition of a drug infested apartment complex across the street from the Whitaker’s church. 

Blount made it clear it was Mark Whitaker and not Mark’s brother Phil he was doing business with.  Phil told the court he was the loan officer, and said he produced all the documents for the New Bethel Federal Credit Union, but it was Blount on the stand who made it clear it was Mark Whitaker who was calling the shots on the loans.

It raises the obvious question: why didn’t the Whitakers go get a $35,000 loan from a trusted friend, or a lending institute, or even a wealthy member of the New Bethel Baptist Church? 

Going into the trial, Dr. Mark Whitaker was faced with 20 felony charges of fraud and forgery. All but three of those charges were dropped in the second day of the trial. There was such joy and confidence with the Whitakers yesterday, today sadness and tears and gloomy demeanors.  

The 12-person jury recommended a $7,500 fine and no jail time for Whitaker. 

Whitaker Trial Coverage: Day One | Day Two

The judge has not entered the convictions and has taken them “under advisement” until Sept. 26 — when formal sentencing is heard.

Whitaker and his defense will be asking for the verdicts to be set aside, basically dropped, because they claim the jurors did not know the forgery law, that there is no evidence Mark Whitaker signed Kevin Blount’s name on any papers. 

“There is no credible evidence that Mark Whitaker signed Kevin Blount’s name and I want the guilty verdicts set aside,” said Jon Babineau, Whitaker’s attorney.

Whitaker said he is not stepping down from city council, but his re-election bid which he filed for, is an unlikely proposition. “This whole thing was politically motivated, racially motivated, and it was vindictive and malicious.”

Then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a law in 2017 which stated that public officers would be automatically suspended if convicted of a felony, “regardless of any appeals, pleadings, delays, or motions.”

In his closing statement, Special Prosecutor Andrew Robbins said Whitaker was at the center of a scheme to forge names — that he did this to benefit the New Bethel Baptist Church.

Video: Closing statements made in Whitaker trial

Robbins argued Whitaker was trying to get $35,000 to pay for the demolition of a drug-infested apartment complex across the street from the church.

Robbins alleged Whitaker forged the name of Kevin Blount, who was to do the work three times — on a loan, a promissory note, and a credit union signature card.

On the stand, Blount said he told Whitaker he did not want to sign a loan or borrow the money, and did not want the debt, and then his name appeared on the documents.