Augusta County prosecutor wants defense attorney booted from criminal case
STAUNTON — Augusta County prosecutor Tim Martin is looking to have a defense attorney booted from a criminal case, claiming her conflicts stretch from Florida to Virginia and that she is trying to represent the suspects and the victim at the same time.
In October 2022, the Augusta County Sheriff's Office and Virginia State Police swarmed the offices of Nexus Services Inc. in Verona, as well as the Fishersville home of Nexus CEO Mike Donovan and his spouse, Richard Moore, a former owner and executive at Nexus. The searches followed grand jury indictments against Donovan and Moore on felony charges of obtaining money by false pretenses and conspiracy to commit a felony, as well as two charges of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
Donovan and Moore are accused of stealing $426,000 from Zachary Cruz — the brother of the convicted Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz — after befriending him following the 2018 mass shooting and moving him to Virginia. Also accused in the case is Nexus executive Timothy Shipe, who is facing charges of financial exploitation and obtaining money by false pretenses.
In his motion to disqualify attorney Amina Matheny-Willard — who is representing both Donovan and Shipe in the theft case and has represented Moore in the past — Martin said the conflict started in Florida. Shortly after Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and wounded 17 others in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, police arrested his brother Zachary Cruz for reportedly trespassing at the school and he was held without bond. Martin said it was during this time the Cruz brothers came into a large annuity from the death of their mother. Moore and Donovan were soon in Florida.
"Richard Moore and Michael Donovan then arrived in Broward County, Florida and took over representation and assumed responsibility of Zachary Cruz," he said in the motion. After Cruz was released on bond to Augusta County, Martin said that Donavan, Moore and Shipe "worked together to take all of Zachary's inheritance from him."
Court files show that in 2019, Cruz opened a joint checking account with Moore. He listed his residence on Windsong Court, where Moore and Donovan also reside.
Initially generated by the FBI, the case alleges Donovan posed as an employee from a law office that supposedly represented Cruz, that Shipe reportedly represented himself as Cruz, and Moore purportedly conducted a wire transfer of $300,000 that once belonged to Cruz.
Martin also noted in the motion that Matheny-Willard represented Cruz in Broward County, where concerns about the relationship between Cruz and the Augusta County couple were brought up at the time. "There were red flags raised with a pending federal investigation into Zachary's finances. Additionally, there was suspicion that some, if not all the parties, were attempting to seek financial gain from the notoriety of the murders of 17 innocent people in Marjory Stoneman High School," Martin said.
During a Florida deposition involving Cruz, Martin said Matheny-Willard insisted that Donovan remain in the room. "Interestingly, she made objections anytime Zachary's finances were mentioned — the same finances at issue in the case before the Court now," Martin said in the motion.
Matheny-Willard, a Norfolk attorney who represented Moore in Florida as well, is also Cruz's attorney on a local traffic matter where he was ordered to perform 30 hours of litter pickup. Martin said on Feb. 23, the attorney, Donovan and Cruz all showed up for his litter pickup, and said Matheny-Willard asked if she could volunteer to pick up trash with Cruz.
After the request was denied, along with another request to allow her to follow the litter crew van, Matheny-Willard demanded to know where the vehicle was headed, stating she was concerned authorities might try to converse with Cruz, according to the motion. A week later during another litter pickup, Martin said the attorney again accompanied Cruz. At the scene, Matheny-Willard told a member of the Augusta County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, who is part of the litter pickup program, that she instructed Cruz not to speak with anyone from the prosecutor's office during the cleanup.
"Thus shielding the victim from our office," Martin noted.
In his motion, Martin said Matheny-Willard's actions are a clear conflict. "After such zealous advocacy for Zachary Cruz and Richard Moore in substantially related matters, Ms. Amina Matheny-Willard is attempting to represent Michael Donovan and Timothy Shipe in a criminal case, where her current client Zachary Cruz is a victim," said Martin, who argued that Matheny-Willard "has inserted herself as the victim's attorney in this case."
Martin said there is "simply no way" she can maintain a duty of loyalty and confidentiality to Cruz, Donovan and Shipe. "All three men have competing interests in this trial," he said.
Matheny-Willard could not be reached for comment.
Donovan, Moore, and Shipe will be tried in August on the theft allegations.
In December 2023, an Augusta County judge found Richard Moore guilty of perjury after the former Nexus Services Inc. executive reneged on a plea deal in a relatively minor case. Moore, who is now being held on home electronic monitoring, will be sentenced April 3 in that case.
In federal court, Moore is also facing 10 charges of employment tax fraud along with two charges of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. He's accused of bilking the IRS out of an estimated $1.5 million while at Nexus. The 12 charges carry a maximum of 56 years in prison. Moore, who will be tried on the federal charges later this year in December, has pleaded not guilty.
In a 2021 federal lawsuit that is still pending, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — along with the states of Virginia, New York and Massachusetts — is seeking more than $800 million from Moore, Donovan, part-owner Evan Ajin, Nexus Services Inc. and its subsidiary, Libre By Nexus. The CFPB is asking for $111 million from each defendant.
Last summer, the former Verona campus for Nexus was auctioned off on the front steps of the Augusta County Courthouse for $3.4 million after the property went into foreclosure.
Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on X (formerly Twitter).
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Augusta County prosecutor wants defense attorney booted from case
