EASTVILLE, Va. — The Town of Eastville is facing renewed questions over its police department finances and personnel practices after former police officer Anthony Owens said the town still owes him pay following his departure from the department.
Owens said he has received a cashier’s check covering part of what he believes he is owed, but maintains the town still has not paid him for several additional days of work. He also says he is due compensation for unused vacation time.
However, the Town of Eastiville notes that everyone, on or off the payroll, has been paid, and there have been no bounced-check notices.
The dispute centers on Owens’ separation from the department in May. Owens said he resigned on May 6, but later received a termination letter dated May 19 that accused him of failing to follow department protocols related to sick leave, clocking in and out, and other procedural matters. Owens disputes several of the allegations in the letter.
Owens also said one of the points of contention involved his use of a town-issued police vehicle. He said that when he was hired in March 2023, he was permitted to drive his assigned work vehicle — a black Chevrolet Tahoe — to his home in Virginia Beach, with the town covering gas and Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel tolls.
According to Owens, that arrangement continued throughout his time with the department until May 6, when he was told to stop taking the vehicle home immediately.
The termination letter he received, however, states that employees are reminded “that compensation for travel time involving an assigned take-home vehicle is not authorized unless expressly approved by the Chief of Police.”
The disagreement adds to a long-running history of scrutiny surrounding Eastville’s police department, which has repeatedly drawn public attention over its finances, staffing, and traffic enforcement practices.
In 2021, Eastville residents publicly questioned police salaries, overtime, and the town’s heavy reliance on traffic fine revenue. Reporting at the time by the Eastern Shore Post found police fines accounted for more than 70% of Eastville’s income in fiscal year 2021, prompting criticism that the small Northampton County town had become overly dependent on traffic enforcement as a revenue source.
The department returned to the spotlight in 2024 when Eastville paid former Police Chief and Town Administrator Rob Stubbs more than $53,000 as part of a severance agreement after his dismissal, another episode that fueled concerns about transparency and management within the department.
Owens’ claims now add another personnel-related dispute to that history, raising new questions about payroll, leave compensation, and the administration of take-home vehicle policies.
For Eastville, a town of only a few hundred residents that has seen its police department become one of the most scrutinized institutions in local government, the latest dispute is likely to intensify calls for clarity over how the department handles employee agreements, benefits, and internal procedures.
Information from a News 3 WTKR report was used in this story.
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I wonder why Eastville PD has such a high turnover of it’s “officers”. Dang, they make more money than any other Eastern Shore agency, have a cake job just writing tickets to unwary travelers and get to use nice new expensive deluxe police SUVs for personal use.
I wonder if the Feds are watching them now and they are trying to appear a bit less corrupt.
Didn’t they just toss one former “officer” in jail recently?
The department seems to have a revolving door for “supervisors” to boot…
They are just road pirates. Very few people would stop for them if they were not armed.
Corruption is contagious.
Absolute corruption is absolutely contagious.
Sounds like the town has an issue with money. I know of contractors that were written bad checks, and have not bothered paying them.
Eastville residents have never questioned the Eastville PD’s tactics, finances, practices or profits. They have been quite supportive of the cash flow.
I know quite a few of the townfolk and they all are quite pleased with their department.
The folks that shoot heroin are quite pleased with and support the drug market.
You must be crazy, drunk, or stupid. I live in Eastville and was in the news daily criticizing Eastville’s crooked antics. If you admire them so much, loan the crooks some money. I understand they are insolvent.
Stay tuned. The grift goes on in Eastville just like in Cape Charles. Does anyone else see the common denominator? Who could have seen this coming? I BET the added connections will reveal themselves any day now.
A take home SUV! Back and forth with gas and tolls paid!? What a crock of sh#@&% !
Ofc Owens should not get a penny! How dare you think that your entitled to use Eastville police SUV to travel back and forth to work! When I was with the state police I had to live within my county! He’s driving over 50 miles one way. And he crosses a toll bridge/ tunnel?! There is no justifiable action for this conduct.
Why don’t you live in Eastville? What is the logistics to approve any of this?! I think the whole town of Eastville is corrupt.
The officer is not to blame. In spite of the contradictory statements by the town of Eastville, the officer was given explicit permission to use that SUV for transportation to his home across the bay. In addition, the administrators and town council were aware of the situation. I heard the police chief at the time confirm it, and it was in a written response to a FOIA request i filed with the town.
I suppose the town was harvesting so much money, for so long, from the highway shake-down that they took it for granted. Money for everyone. Now that there’s a rumor of them being investigated the operation has slowed down and the massive influx of cash is drying up. A group of officers have already left after getting large profits and one conviction. The town must now begin a financial tapdance as reality sets in.