By Valerie Cury

Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett has rejected a plea agreement offered by Special Prosecutor Eric Olsen that would dismiss all six felony charges against Nett and two against Town Manager Kwasi Fraser in exchange for Nett pleading guilty to a misdemeanor offense with which he has never been charged, resigning from Town Council and agreeing not to hold public office in Loudoun County for one year.

The offer, made Oct. 1 through Nett’s attorney, Ryan Campbell, came less than four weeks before Nett’s scheduled Oct. 26 trial on four felony computer-trespass charges. The trial is scheduled to begin just eight days before Purcellville’s Nov. 3 election.

Under the proposed agreement, Nett would be required to plead guilty to a misdemeanor violation of Virginia’s State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act. In exchange, prosecutors would dismiss all eight felony charges against him and Fraser.
The agreement would impose no active jail time, conditioned upon one year of good behavior, and require Nett to relinquish his elected position.

“I will not plead guilty to a crime I did not commit, and which I have not been charged with, in order to make six felony charges that I have been framed with magically go away,” Nett said.

Nett questioned why prosecutors would offer to dismiss eight felony charges against two defendants in exchange for a misdemeanor guilty plea and his resignation from public office. He contends that the proposed agreement reinforces his longstanding belief that the prosecution is politically motivated.

Olsen, the Stafford County Commonwealth’s Attorney, was appointed special prosecutor following a recommendation from Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Anderson.

On July 23, 2025, a special grand jury indicted Nett on four felony counts of computer trespass stemming from allegations that he improperly accessed the Virginia Criminal Information Network In a separate case, Nett and Fraser were each indicted on one felony count of fraudulent commercial dealing and one count of conspiracy involving allegations of bid rigging related to a
$12,000 police-management consulting contract.

Both men have consistently denied wrongdoing.

The separate fraud and conspiracy charges are scheduled for trial in early December.

Nett described the emotional and financial pressures of defending himself against felony charges and the difficult decisions faced by defendants who are offered plea agreements.

“Every day, innocent people plead guilty to crimes they did not commit in order to alleviate the financial burden of legal defense and erase the anxiety of a jury decision that could result in life-destroying verdicts,” Nett said. “I feel those pressures, too. This entire ordeal has been devastating to both me and the people I love most.”

The misdemeanor offense proposed in the plea agreement is connected to an earlier legal dispute involving Anderson.

On April 21, 2025, Anderson publicly accused Nett of violating Virginia’s State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act. Nett challenged Anderson’s interpretation and subsequently filed a complaint seeking a declaratory judgment.

According to Nett, Anderson’s legal analysis conflicted with interpretations provided by the executive director of the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council and the Purcellville Town Attorney.

Nett maintains that Anderson later retreated from his original position following the filing of the lawsuit.

The offer also follows separate proceedings concerning Nett’s removal from Town Council.

In April, a Loudoun County jury found certain unspecified violations but determined they did not warrant removing Nett from elected office. Despite the jury’s decision, Special Prosecutor Eric Olsen sought to set aside the verdict and have Nett removed from Town Council. Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows rejected Olsen’s request, leaving the jury’s decision intact.

Now, under the proposed plea agreement, Olsen is again seeking Nett’s departure from elected office—this time as a condition for dismissing eight felony charges against Nett and Town Manager Kwasi Fraser.

Nett, a former member of the U,S. Secret Service and former CIA contract Intelligence Officer who served in Afghanistan, invoked his years of federal service in explaining why he would not accept the agreement.

“I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Nett said.

“If necessary, I’ll give my life on the streets of Virginia, or in a Virginia prison, before I plead guilty to a crime I did not commit and thus provide legal and political cover to individuals who, themselves, I believe, are guilty of federal civil rights violations,” Nett said.

Nett maintains that the pending criminal charges should be resolved on their evidence and legal merits rather than through an agreement requiring him to admit guilt and surrender elected office.

With the plea agreement rejected, Nett’s criminal cases remain scheduled for trial later this month and in December.