Brady will fight charges in court

By Linda Cicoira

Eastville Police Officer Jerry Keith Brady Jr. waived formal arraignment Monday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk concerning allegations that he committed 12 counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering involving nearly $820,000. He entered pleas of not guilty and demanded a jury trial.

Court documents state that the session lasted about five minutes. Brady remains free on his own recognizance. The deadline for pre-trial motions was set for Sept. 24. A trial is scheduled for Nov. 3.

The 39-year-old Belle Haven man was arrested Aug. 25 and was released the next day. He is on administrative leave from the police department. The victims in the alleged scheme to defraud financial institutions and others were only identified by their initials in court documents. IRS Agent Nathan Perrow is investigating the case.

According to the documents, “Brady would approach friends and acquaintances with a false narrative that he was due a large inheritance or life insurance payout from a deceased relative but needed funds to pay off attorneys and other fees. Brady would seek substantial loans from these individuals, in some instances tens of thousands of dollars, to cover the non-existent fees. In reality, there was never any inheritance or life insurance, nor were there any fees related to such.”

An indictment further states, “Brady would enter into written agreements to repay the referenced loans. In most cases, it said, he failed to repay the victims. In some instances, Brady fraudulently asserted that he needed more money to gain access to the non-existent inheritance or insurance funds.”