Patrick County Circuit Court Clerk Sherri Hazlewood will again be held without bond in the Patrick County Jail, according to Sheriff Dan Smith.
Smith’s deputies were traveling to Williamsburg on Tuesday, Dec. 20, to transport Hazlewood, who also is facing charges in Patrick County, from a facility there back to the local jail.
The change came days her arrest in Rocky Mount.
Sgt. M. Huston, public information officer with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, said Hazlewood was drunk in public around 10 a.m. on Dec. 14 in connection with an alleged incident at the Baymont Inn.
According to the call log, Huston said the 911 caller reported a woman at the Baymont Inn was “caught earlier trying to take Christmas decorations and a tablet, and then was walking down the hall kicking doors to other rooms” in the hotel.
Officers arriving at the scene located Hazlewood in a hallway at the hotel, Rocky Mount Police Chief Philip Young said. Based on the investigation conducted at the scene, she was arrested and transported to the Franklin County Jail.
Young added that Hazlewood was released on bond around 6 p.m. on Dec. 14.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and there is nothing further to release at this time,” he said.
Hazlewood, 54, of Claudville, also was charged on Nov. 1 with one count each possess a controlled substance, and appear in public in an intoxicated condition in connection with an alleged incident in Bland County, according to a criminal complaint.
Since late November, Hazlewood had been held with no bond on charges of breaking and entering and destruction of property in Patrick County.
She was released on bond Dec. 12, Smith said.
Smith said he did not know whether authorities would seek to have her bond revoked as a result of the charge in Rocky Mount. That decision, he added, would be made by the Carroll County Commonwealth’s Attorney, who is prosecuting the case.
Patrick County Circuit Court Judge Marcus Brinks appointed Morgan Boothe to serve as clerk in Hazlewood’s absence.
The court can remove an elected official from office only via a process outlined in the Code of Virginia.
Section 24.2-233 states that a circuit court may, upon petition, remove any elected officer from office for a number of reasons, among them neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties when that neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties has a material adverse effect upon the conduct of the office.
The petition must be signed by a number of registered voters, equal to 10 percent of the total number of votes cast in the last election for the office that the elected official holds.
Hazlewood won her election bid in 2017.
A total of 5,674 ballots were cast in the election that also included state, countywide and district races, Patrick County Registrar Susan Taylor said.
Records indicated that 5,441 votes were cast for Hazlewood in her bid for the clerk’s post.
Currently, Hazlewood remains in her elected position as clerk, for which she is being paid $116,831, according to records in the county administration office.
