The man charged with extorting Hampton City Councilman Chris Bowman for thousands of dollars over a stolen cellphone has pleaded guilty and will have to serve six months in jail and pay Bowman $12,000 in restitution.
The extortion case led to an embarrassing admission in court documents that Bowman’s cellphone was stolen from his car while he was in a hotel room with a prostitute.
Michael Eugene Brown II, the man accused of blackmailing him, was arrested last year. Brown pleaded guilty in Hampton Circuit Court on July 2 to a felony threat to extort money. Bowman was never charged with any crime.
A criminal complaint filed in the case states that in January 2022, Bowman paid a woman $200 for oral sex at a Newport News hotel room. While he was in the hotel room, his cellphone was taken from his car, according to the complaint. A man later called Bowman, saying he had his phone and demanded money for its return. Bowman testified in court that he paid $12,000 in attempts to get the phone back before going to police.
According to Brown’s plea agreement, he will be sentenced to incarceration for five years, with four years and six months suspended. The suspension is conditional upon completing two years of supervised probation upon release from custody. He must also display good behavior and continue for a period of five years upon his release.
The plea agreement requires Brown to pay Bowman $12,000 in restitution and also states that Brown cannot have contact, directly or indirectly, with Bowman or his family.
Bowman declined to comment on the plea agreement and Brown’s attorney, David Anderson, could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Since the prostitution and extortion scandal became public, some community members — including the president of the Hampton NAACP — have called on Bowman to resign. Meanwhile, Bowman’s fellow council members unanimously voted to censure him for “conduct unbecoming of a public official.”
Hampton resident Randy Bowman launched a recall effort against Bowman last year. The two men are not related. However, he confirmed Monday that the effort ultimately never progressed as it turned out that the process would require several thousand more signatures than he initially was told he would need. The city’s voter registrar previously said that 1,608 signatures were needed to start the recall process, but she later said the petition would need 4,085 signatures based on past election turnout. Randy Bowman said he had ultimately collected around 3,000 signatures.
Chris Bowman is seeking reelection this November, and Randy Bowman is also running for council this year. Nine candidates are vying for three full-term council seats.
Josh Janney, joshua.janney@virginiamedia.com.
