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Powhatan School Board Member Arrested on Cocaine Charges
by Amy Biegelsen
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The Powhatan County Sheriff's Office arrested a School Board member on charges of cocaine possession Nov. 10.
Germando L. Harris, 49, at a house on Maidens Road in Powhatan when he was arrested along with Kelly Lashawn Jackson, 27, and Charles Edward Turner, 26. Harris, whose term ends in January, did not seek re-election.
Reached at home, Harris offered his side of the story, then recanted, saying "everything I just told you was a lie."
"Wrong place at the wrong time is all I can say," Harris began, adding that he didn't possess anything illegal and was wrongly arrested.
He says he had started baking a cake at his home on Saturday evening when he got a phone call from an individual requesting a ride to the house on Maidens Road. Harris declined to identify the caller or give the nature of their relationship. Harris, Jackson and Turner were the only ones at the house when arrested.
Harris says he has a psychology degree and no day job before claiming that the previous statements were lies aimed at determining how a reporter knew about the incident.
T.J. Bise, a former chairman of Powhatan School Board, served with Harris and says he was surprised when he heard the news. "He was a good member, good citizen, a good individual as far as I'm concerned," Bise says.
Anne Reynolds, a crime analyst in the sheriff's office says Harris "was not targeted, the address was." She was not aware of Harris having any prior record in Powhatan.
Harris will be arraigned on Nov. 16.
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