Glenmoregate: Grand jury indicts Comer

Will former country club prez Mike Comer plead guilty?
NELSONCOUNTYLIFE.COM/ALBEMARLE POLICE

An Albemarle grand jury indicted Michael D. Comer, the former Glenmore homeowners treasurer who disappeared in July about the same time an audit turned up $666,000 missing from the association's coffers, December 7 on five counts of embezzlement.

"The grand jury exercised an independent judgment," says Elliot Casey, Albemarle assistant commonwealth's attorney, who mentions that the prosecutor does not appear before the grand jury in Virginia and the evidence is presented by the investigating police officer.

Casey refuses to speculate about whether Comer, who was also the Glenmore Country Club president, would enter a guilty plea. "At this point, Mr. Comer has not contested the evidence," says Casey. "He waived the preliminary hearing."

Comer's in-laws, Peggy Kessler, widow of Glenmore developer Frank Kessler and mother of Comer's wife Kandi, and Jeff Gaffney, CEO of Real Estate III, who is married to Kandi's sister, have pledged to repay the missing funds by August 2010 through their company, Glenmore Associates.

Comer next appears before a judge January 28 to schedule a trial date–- or enter a guilty plea. His Warrenton attorney, Blair Howard, did not return a phone call by press time.