Prelim waived: Halfaday fraud charges go to grand jury

Making his third appearance to answer election fraud charges Thursday, former City Council candidate James Halfaday waived a preliminary hearing, so the four felony charges will go to the grand jury. The 32-year-old appeared in Charlottesville General District Court January 26 with his attorney, Scott Goodman.

After coming in seventh out of seven candidates in last August's Democratic firehouse primary, odd allegations started popping up about the man who, until that point, had been best known as both the city's first gay and Native American candidate.

A lawyer contacted the Hook to say that Halfaday was not the owner of Snap Fitness gym as he'd claimed during his campaign. And residents at the Sunset Road address Halfaday used when he filed to run for Council had never heard of him. And several people listed as having contributed $499 to his campaign adamantly denied doing so. (There was even an assertion by Halfaday that he'd been injured in the summertime earthquake.)

On October 19, Halfaday was arrested for making false statements on voter registration forms, a Class 5 felony that carries up to 10 years in prison and up to a $2,500 fine. Also appearing in court Thursday: Registrar Sheri Iachetta, presumably to testify about the allegedly false statements filed with her office.

Halfaday declined to comment as he left court, and unlike his December 15 appearance there were no angry gestures from associates. The case goes to the grand jury February 21.