International Fugitives Cocaine case exposes deep corruption in Henrico County justice system
The case of Nickolas Spanos, an international fugitive who fled to Greece over twenty years ago continues to expose the deep corruption in Henrico County and raises many unanswered questions.
From 2000 until 2013, the Nickolas Spanos case, who allegedly operated a 600 kilo cocaine distribution in Richmond, Virginia, for over ten years, had been forgotten and covered up by Henrico County law enforcement officials.
Henrico Circuit Court records show that numerous affidavits filed by the FBI stated Spanos's exact location in Greece and that the fugitive had renewed his U.S. passport in 2006. For sixteen years, the Henrico Commonwealths attorney never lifted a finger to extradite Spanos, not even to contact the U.S. State department and cancel his U.S. passport.
Until a fluke arrest in the Philippines, derived from a tip to the FBI, brought life back to the case, Henrico County Commonwealth Attorney officials Shannon Taylor and Michael Feinmel attempted to hide the fact that the fugitive had been arrested and was waiting extradition back to Virginia. A March 01, 2013, Richmond Times Dispatch article broke news of his arrest.
Spanos was being held for extradition from the Philippines, HCCA Shannon Taylor and Michael Feinmel never filed an extradition to the Philippines, despite having the full support of the FBI and the Philippine DOJ. After one year and seven months and no extradition request by Henrico Commonwealth attorneys, Spanos was allowed to return to his safe haven of Greece.
Only after his arrival in Greece, did HCCA Shannon Taylor and Michael Feinmel filed an extradition request, which they knew it would be denied, as Spanos is a Greek citizen and Greece is not obligated to extradite their citizens. On September 24, 2014, a Greek tribunal denied the Henrico Commonwealth Attorney's request for extradition, stating he was protected by his Greek citizenship.
Spanos did not always have Greek citizenship, as from 1998 to 2000, he only had a single nationality status of the United States. Ex-HCCA Howard C. (Toby) Vick had the ideal opportunity to have Spanos extradited from Greece but that would have meant giving up his golden ticket to join the powerful McGuireWoods law firm. If Vick has prosecuted Spanos, their would have been a conflict of interest, as Spanos was represented by McGuireWoods in family estate holdings. Vick joined McGuireWoods in June 2000.
Henrico Circuit Court Clerk records shows that the Spanos case is still active in the Henrico Circuit Court, with numerous motions being filed by Spanos and his attorneys. The most unusual was a December 04, 2018, Motion for Transportation to be provided by the Henrico Commonwealth Attorney. The motion for transportation contained that Spanos was voluntarily turning himself into the custody of U.S. FBI officials and to be escorted by federal marshals back to Henrico county to be prosecuted for thirteen indictments for the distribution of cocaine.
Just a few days after the Motion for Transport was filed, Judge Lee A. Harris quickly denied the motion on December 07, 2018, thus not allowing Spanos to be returned to his court for prosecution. From the onset of the thirteen grand jury indictments being filed, Judge Lee A. Harris asked for the Spanos case and every order signed bears the signature of Judge Lee A. Harris. Why wouldn't Judge Lee A. Harris not sign the transportation order for Spanos?
Judge Lee A. Harris was a Commonwealth Attorney at Henrico County before being appointed a Henrico Circuit Court judge. Judge Harris is also a close friend and University of Richmond Alumni with Howard C. Vick and McGuireWoods shadow government leader Richard Cullen. Judge Harris was also close friends with Spanos's late attorney Murray Janus, a high profile lawyer between 1963-2013. Despite the heavy conflict of interest, Judge Lee A. Harris has not recused himself from hearing the Spanos case. Why is Judge Lee A. Harris protecting Nickolas Spanos.
A Motion to dismiss with Prejudice the thirteen indictments was filed on September 24, 2018 and a trial was held on July 16, 2020, in which Spanos briefly appeared by video conference. The motion was denied and a notice of appeal was filed, sending the Spanos case to the Virginia Court of Appeals.
The Virginia Court of Appeals (VCA) protocol is that the Henrico Circuit court clerk (HCCC) send all the case files to the VCA, which they use as reference as to the history of the case. The case files was sent by the HCCC on January 07, 2021.
VCA records indicate that over 300 pages of exhibits containing evidence and court pleadings are missing and after three months, are yet to be located by the HCCC. A letter from a HCCC deputy clerk dated February 11, 2021, stated that the files were accessed by the Henrico Commonwealth attorney and that they even submitted the September 24, 2018 motion to dismiss again on July 22, 2020, after the Judge Harris order had been issued. Why would the HCCA file a motion which was not theirs to file? and remove over 300 pages of evidence?
Recently, a criminal complaint was filed, with Henrico Police Deputy Chief Christopher Eley, against Shannon Taylor for receiving over $15,000 in campaign contributions from a Spanos family attorney. Also in the complaint was that Shannon Taylor received political favors and campaign support from ex-HCCA Howard C. Vick to not extradite Nickolas Spanos from the Philippines and Greece.
Henrico Police Deputy Chief Christopher Eley refused to investigate Shannon Taylor despite the evidence of corruption, Eley has been with the HPD since 1998 and heads criminal investigations.
See previous article of HPD Eley
It is unclear if the Spanos case ever ends in Henrico County Circuit Court, but if the Spanos case carries the heavy load of corruption within Henrico's Justice system, what other cases have been tainted with the roots of corruption?
