Photo Credit: Augusta County

Written by: Sam Orlando, Michael Phillips, Bonnie Chapman, and Ismael Barrios

Stuarts Draft, VA - Today at the Augusta County Board of Supervisors work session, Supervisor Steven Morelli was conspicuously absent as the meeting began.

When the Board moved to executive session, Supervisor Scott Seaton objected. A conversation began about a statement the Board was planning to release, which later turned out to be the announcement of Morelli's resignation. Seaton demanded that the Board come back into public session to release the statement and permit Board members to make comments about it. The Board remained in executive session for nearly 3 hours, coming back to announce the resignation and continue with matters presented by the Board. When the public session resumed, Supervisor Seaton made a cryptic comment that he would not comment about Morelli's resignation "at the request of Board meetings and victims"

The shocking resignation comes as Morelli, who has made waves with his combative style at meetings, planned a re-election campaign. Morelli, new to the Board, had made meetings interesting with his attacks on other supervisors, particularly Scott Seaton of Fishersville. Morelli was a huge opponent to funding body cameras for Augusta County Deputies, claiming that Sheriff Smith told him he didn't really want the cameras. These allegations and Morelli's resignation may help explain his aversion to the kind of transparency body cameras would provide the County.

Morelli was not present for the meeting.

Breaking Through is investigating the allegations of sexual harassment against Morelli, however we refrain from reporting on accusations that cannot be verified by multiple sources. Once Breaking Through is able to confirm the specifics of the allegations, we will bring them to you in detail so that you may stay informed about the allegations against Morelli, and the scandal now plaguing Augusta County's local government.

The Board did announce that they would be addressing the public with instructions on how interested individuals can apply for the open position.