Former Republican lawmaker Matt Fariss had the drug methamphetamine on him when he was arrested in Campbell County late Saturday on charges of possession of a firearm, possession of narcotics and violation of a protective order, his arrest record shows.
Fariss was the only occupant in his vehicle when he was stopped by an officer of the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office. The officer noted that the former state delegate had a rifle in his car and a “crystal substance that field tested positive for meth in his pocket,” the report said. It does not say how much of the substance was found.
It wasn’t clear where and when the arrest happened Saturday, or why the officer stopped Fariss. A public information officer for the sheriff’s office could not be reached Monday. But the report was filed at 11:53 p.m., and Fariss was booked at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail facility in Amherst County minutes later. He remained there through Monday.
A bond hearing scheduled for Monday afternoon did not happen because the internet at the Campbell County General District Court in Rustburg was down for much of the day. Later on Monday, the hearing was set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Lynchburg attorney Chuck Felmlee, who had previously represented Fariss, is named again as his counsel. Felmlee did not return phone calls Monday.
In his report, the arresting officer also noted that Fariss was “subject to a protective order that expires in August of 2025 and was served in August of 2023.”
Fariss’ arrest comes less than three weeks after he was acquitted of two felony charges in a March 2023 incident that injured Julie Miles, a woman he was seeing romantically, and led her to obtain a protective order against him. But he was found guilty of a misdemeanor reckless driving charge stemming from the same incident, and the jury ordered him to pay a $500 fine.
When reached by phone, Miles declined to comment Sunday, citing ongoing civil litigation relating to the same incident. But because Miles received her protective order shortly after the March 2023 incident, it is unlikely that the protective order that Fariss was charged with violating over the weekend is the same order.
Last year’s charges weren’t Fariss’ first brush with the law. In January 2016, he was charged with two incidents, including a misdemeanor breach of peace in a parking dispute, and a hit-and-run accident in which property was damaged but no one was hurt. He was acquitted of the breach of peace charge and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hit-and-run.
Fariss, 55, had represented the 59th House District since 2012. But after missing the filing deadline for the Republican nomination, he filed his paperwork to run as an independent in June. He was defeated in the general election on Nov. 8 by Eric Zehr, the GOP nominee, in a three-way contest that also included Democrat Kimberly Moran.
Staff writer Matt Busse contributed information to this report.