Group calls on feds to investigate Hampton cigarette sting

The Coalition for Justice for Civil Rights on Tuesday said the FBI should investigate an undercover Hampton Police cigarette sting shut down by the city after allegations of officer misconduct because it was started with federal money. The federal money was used to buy cigarettes and lease a warehouse during the initial phase of the 19-month operation.

Rudy Langford, president of the Coalition for Justice, also said City Manager Mary Bunting and Police Chief Charles "Chuck" Jordan Jr. should step down because the city has so far failed to account for money withdrawn from a Langley Federal Credit Union account associated with the undercover operation. The sting is now also the subject of a city internal affairs investigation. An after-hours message left for Phil Mann, the Norfolk FBI office spokesman, was not returned. Langford and members of the Coalition for Justice made their remarks during a 40-minute press conference held in the ground floor of City Hall.

The gathering was held less than a week after former state Del. Tom Gear was escorted out of a City Council meeting after he repeatedly questioned council members about their knowledge of the cigarette sting. Gear was issued a trespassing summons after he refused to leave the speakers podium during the public comment period on Oct. 10. "What is most shameful, the citizens should be roused about what happened to Tom Gear," Langford said.

"He represented our city and only stepped down because of medical concerns with his family and they arrested him in a public forum." Langford's relationship with Hampton Police has not been cozy. He was arrested in October 2011 for entering the home of a man shot and killed by officers earlier that year. Langford was acquitted of the trespassing charge in January; he has since claimed the charges were trumped up and a tactic to discredit him and the Coalition for Justice.