An investigation in Martinsville encompassing the entire city government is “trudging along,” as the Virginia State Police interviews witnesses and reviews financial records, said Gray Collins, the special prosecutor on the case.
The investigation includes allegations that the city detailed in a press release and said prompted the firing of former City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides. In recent weeks, the city made strides in hiring a new city attorney, and there have been updates with the three lawsuits that involve the city, current and former city employees, council members and the law firm that previously acted as city attorney, Sands Anderson.
Collins — the Colonial Heights commonwealth’s attorney — and the state police have completed about 15 interviews: four in person and about a dozen over the phone. The Virginia State Police is “stretched thin,” so there have been some delays in the investigation, Collins said. The investigation will take at least another two months, he said.
With every witness interview, more information comes to light, and more people need to be contacted, Collins said.
The Virginia State Police declined to comment on the investigation.
Collins requested a forensic auditor from the Virginia State Police in April when he was first appointed to the case. He is waiting to be assigned someone who will assess Sands Anderson’s financial records. Sands Anderson conducted a separate workplace investigation report that detailed the reasons for the former city manager’s termination.
The lawsuits and updates include:
- Ferrell-Benavides sued the city of Martinsville, Sands Anderson and councilman Aaron Rawls in June on counts including discrimination, a hostile work environment, retaliation, breach of contract and defamation. Sands Anderson and Rawls filed motions Aug. 11 to dismiss the lawsuit. The city of Martinsville filed a partial motion to dismiss, excluding Ferrell-Benavides’ claim of breach of contract.
- Mayor L.C. Jones sued Rawls and Sands Anderson in June on counts including defamation, First Amendment retaliation, equal protection and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Rawls and Sands Anderson filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit Aug. 11.
- Rawls sued Ferrell-Benavides and Deputy Sheriff Reva Keen on counts including a violation of his First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights after Keen escorted Rawls out of a March 25, 2025, city council meeting. Ferrell-Benavides and Jones, whom Rawls did not sue, recently filed a joint motion for each witness in the three suits to only be deposed once.
In Sands Anderson’s motion to dismiss the suit, the firm states that Ferrell-Benavides is suing because its attorneys were “performing the very tasks they were retained to perform.” Sands Anderson submitted an email sent on Aug. 13, 2025, to Ferrell-Benavides’ then-attorney stating the city’s concerns about her undisciplined spending and unexplained purchases, as well as alleged reasons for her firing that include:
- Being dishonest and uncooperative with attorneys during the workplace investigation.
- Interfering with investigative witnesses.
- Engaging in illegal and unethical practices in her hiring and management.
- Violating instructions by speaking publicly about confidential city information.
- Engaging in “the most extreme forms of workplace gossip.”
- Unsatisfactory performance.
- Violating city policies.
Collins said one of the issues involved is what Ferrell-Benavides did to change policies to give herself wider discretion in her actions as city manager. Rob Fincher, now the city manager, said that when he took the job, he felt that safeguards and city employee awareness of them needed to be improved.
Fincher said it was important to him to have a full-time policy analyst — which the city now has — to assess and revise the city’s manual. The city also created a system to notify employees about the changes.
Ferrell-Benavides, through her attorney, could not be reached for this story. Jones cited the ongoing litigation and had no further comment.
Amid the lawsuits and investigation, Martinsville appointed James Benkahla as its new city attorney — a position it has been trying to fill for years. The city brought in Sands Anderson, an outside law firm, to serve as its city attorney beginning in September 2023.
Sands Anderson stopped representing the city in June after Jones and Ferrell-Benavides filed federal lawsuits, creating a conflict of interest. Martinsville has not had an attorney since then, with the city council only having closed sessions regarding hiring a new attorney and the courthouse renovation — a decision that the city is required to make because the current courthouse doesn’t meet Virginia’s Courthouse Facility Guidelines. Although Sands Anderson no longer represents the city, an attorney from the firm is advising Martinsville on the courthouse decision.
Benkahla’s application was the first the city received in some time for that job, Fincher said. Benkahla will get a starting annual salary of $155,000.
