CHESTER – A review by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office into alleged “unethical and possibly illegal practices” by former Town of Chester Supervisor Robert Valentine has found “no overt signs of criminal activity.”
The accusations were waged against Valentine by two of his political rivals less than a month before last November’s election. Councilmen Robert Courtenay, a Republican, and Brandon Holdridge, a Democrat, alleged in 2023 that Valentine may have used his position to benefit his family’s trucking and excavating company and himself on projects such as the Greens at Chester. Both called for a probe into Valentine by District Attorney David Hoovler.
Holdridge went on to beat Valentine in the race for Chester Supervisor. Courtenay had challenged Valentine in the Republican primary but lost.
“Brandon Holdridge and Bob Courtenay lied about me for political purposes and tried to ruin my reputation,” Valentine said. “It was an outright hit job and they had no evidence to substantiate their claims. They should apologize to the residents of Chester and recant their comments.”
Valentine said that he received an opinion from the Town of Chester’s former attorney in 2018 when he took office that there was no conflict of interest with him working with any private businesses in the Town of Chester. In a letter to Holdridge earlier this month, Hoovler concluded: “At this point, the initial review shows no criminal behavior for the District Attorney’s Office to investigate.”
Holdridge called the District Attorney’s findings “disappointing” and “incomprehensive.” Holdridge added that he was concerned that Hoovler appeared on a political mailer with Valentine last fall with other County officials.
“Politics shouldn’t matter when it comes to right and wrong”, Courtenay added.
Hoovler said that no evidence of criminal activity was found in his probe.
“Investigators, including the chief assistant in my office, met with Supervisor Holdridge for 90 minutes and had subsequent follow-up calls,” Hoovler said. “A former supervisor was also interviewed. The matter is most appropriately handled by a Town Ethics Committee. There are no allegations of missing money or theft of Town money in this matter.”
Valentine said he asked that Holdridge and Courtenay send the matter to the Town’s Board of Ethics before they contacted the district attorney.
“But they didn’t do that because that wouldn’t have helped them with the election,” Valentine said.
Holdridge said that Valentine never approached him about taking the matter to the Board of Ethics.
“We thought it went deeper than the ethics board,” Holdridge countered. “Also, we didn’t feel as though the chairman at the time was the most unbiased source as he openly supported Supervisor Valentine.”
