It’s official. Ten percent of Virginia Beach’s Economic Development staff are now under indictment on felony embezzlement charges.

One question: What took so long?

It was more than a year ago - on October 8, 2018, to be precise - that Warren Harris, Virginia Beach Economic Development Director, suddenly and without explanation, resigned from the post he’d held for 11 years.

Seems the city’s auditor, Lyndon Remias, was looking into credit card irregularities in the office when Harris bolted.

Now, 13 months later, Harris has been indicted on 14 counts of embezzlement. 

According to news reports, Remias discovered that Harris misused about $57,162.56 of OUR money.

Lucky us.

He’s the second member of that small office - with about 20 employees - to be charged with a crime. On November 12, 2018, Brian Scott Hall, another former member of the Economic Development staff, was charged with three counts of embezzlement. He, too, had fled the department’s fancy digs in Town Center prior to his arrest.

For reasons that are not clear, Hall’s trial still hasn’t taken place. It’s set for December 18th in Virginia Beach Circuit Court.

The wheels of justice are turning slowly.

To recap: Two former members of the economic development staff have been charged with felonies. And there’s no guarantee the FBI and local law enforcement are finished.

If they are done with that office, prosecutors might want to take a gander at some of the odious public-private partnerships the city concocted in recent years. They also might want to take a peek at the Virginia Beach Development Authority, which for more than a decade was a nest of nepotism, profiteering and cronyism. The 11-member body is made up of political appointees who serve staggered four-year terms. 

The authority’s mission is to expand the city’s tax base by luring new businesses to the Beach. 

You know, outfits like the Bcause Mining LLC, a cryptocurrency company, which the geniuses on that generous authority deemed worthy of public money. In 2017 the city gave that enterprise $500,000 to come to Virginia Beach. In April of 2019, Bcause filed for bankruptcy.

Half a million dollars and nothing to show for it. Well done.

In a two-part series published here last year, however, we documented some lucrative deals former authority members worked with each other. We also showed shocking examples of favoritism by city staff and shameless attempts by some cronies to fast-track at least one major project. (That was halted only after the city auditor objected to a total lack of transparency around the bidding process.)

Illegal acts? Maybe not. But the behavior of certain city officials certainly didn’t pass the smell test.

Indictments may make Virginia Beach look like it’s lousy with corruptocrats, but it’s also a sign that prosecutors are finally draining our local swamp.

Three words: Don’t stop now.