The Bland County commonwealth’s attorney’s office has been appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate an elected official in Buchanan County, but the prosecutor handling the case said he doesn’t know yet who or what is being investigated.
The order for a special prosecutor was sealed as soon as it was entered by Circuit Judge Richard Patterson, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Charles Stacy said Thursday. Patterson is the chief judge for the 29th Judicial Circuit, which includes the counties of Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell.
Stacy said he will handle the investigation because he is based in Tazewell County and so is closer to Buchanan County than is Bland County Commonwealth’s Attorney Patrick White.
“We haven’t received any information yet from the Buchanan County commonwealth’s attorney’s office as to what the nature of the complaints were, because until we receive that information, we have to go through a process in order to initiate an investigation against an elected official,” Stacy said.
“All of those things have to occur before we will know any information about what this is alleging. There have been no charges filed.”
Stacy said he did not know whether the case involves Trey Adkins, a longtime member of the Buchanan County supervisors who has faced a number of criminal charges in recent years.
The Voice, a community newspaper that covers Buchanan and Tazewell counties, reported June 17 that a court clerk in Tazewell County told a reporter that a special prosecutor had been appointed to investigate Adkins.
Buchanan County Commonwealth’s Attorney Nikki Stiltner said Thursday that she had no comment about the investigation.
Virginia State Police would not confirm or deny whether it’s part of the new investigation because it involves an elected official, Matthew Demlein, its public relations coordinator, wrote in an email.
In 2022, a special grand jury handed down 82 election-related felony indictments against Adkins, including 34 counts of making a false statement, 11 counts of violating absentee voting procedures, 11 counts of forging public records and eight counts of embezzling public money. All of the embezzlement charges were nolle prossed, which means they did not move forward.
A special prosecutor, Russell County Commonwealth’s Attorney Zack Stoots, was appointed to handle that case, which the Virginia State Police investigated for more than two years.
A change of venue was granted at the request of prosecutors. It will be handled in Dickenson County Circuit Court, where it is set for a two-week jury trial starting Oct. 19.
Also in 2022, Adkins was charged with 87 domestic-related counts; most were charges of stalking and violating an order of protection, which are misdemeanors.
On Sept. 29, 2025, Adkins pleaded guilty to five counts of violation of a protective order and one count of illegal use of a tracking device. For each count, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail, with 29 days suspended.
The rest of the charges were dismissed.
Adkins is a Republican who was first elected to the board of supervisors as a Democrat in 2011. Despite the charges against him, he easily won reelection to his fourth four-year term in 2023, when he received 70% of the votes.
His attorney, Nick Compton, could not be reached for comment on Thursday. Last week, Compton said he had not heard that a special prosecutor had been appointed to investigate his client. He wouldn’t be surprised, he said, because four other special prosecutors have been appointed to investigate Adkins in recent years.
