Former Nelson sheriff accused of abusing, threatening wife

Brooks, of Shipman, was arrested Aug. 27 and charged with three misdemeanor counts of assault and battery of a family member in connection with reported violence on May 1, May 3 and Aug. 23.

Nelson County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Quinn Conrad, during a bond hearing, said Rose Brooks, wife of David Brooks, has left their residence to stay on her own following “a pattern of physical abuse, threatened sexual abuse” and the former sheriff tracking her location. Conrad said Brooks, 64, slapped his wife across the face and grabbed her by the wrists, leaving several bruises.

Conrad showed pictures of the bruises to Judge James Downey during the bond hearing Thursday in Nelson Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Brooks appeared via video while in custody of the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

Conrad opposed releasing Brooks on bond, further stating of the commonwealth’s evidence that the former sheriff “bear-hugged” Rose Brooks, took her into the bedroom and threatened a sexual act. Rose Brooks is afraid to go back to the residence, there is a firearm there and the concern is “this threat is very real,” Conrad told Downey.

David Mitchel, attorney for Brooks, said Conrad’s proffer of evidence is different from a criminal complaint that was filed against Brooks.

“The defense stipulates to none of the facts in the complaint and proffer,” Mitchel said.

The complaint states that, according to Rose Brooks, in early May 2026, the defendant grabbed her by both wrists, squeezing them and shaking her violently, causing large bruises which she photographed.

“On or around May 3 the accused grabbed his wife from behind in a bearhug holding her tightly and forcing her to lay in bed when she did not want to,” the criminal complaint reads.

The officer who wrote the complaint stated Brooks said in an interview with law enforcement he “grabbed his wife in a bearhug and forced her to lay down.” The investigator advised Brooks he could not do that if his wife did not want him to, to which he responded, “she was his wife and he absolutely could do that and had done that before,” according to the complaint.

On Aug. 23, Rose Brooks stated her husband grabbed her again by the wrists, squeezing them tightly and shaking her while yelling in her face, the complaint reads.

Conrad said the commonwealth does not consider Brooks to be a flight risk because of “considerable ties to the community” but is concerned with bond because of the safety of Rose Brooks. The prosecutor said Brooks controls his wife’s finances and raised concern about that aspect of the relationship.

“These are serious allegations,” Downey said. 

When the judge said Brooks is assumed innocent until proven guilty, the former sheriff, deputy and courtroom bailiff said: "Yes." 

Mitchel asked for a $1,000 unsecured bond, said Brooks was incarcerated for six days and spoke of his “substantial ties to the community.”

Downey ordered a $10,000 unsecured bond and set conditions that Brooks not access firearms, consume alcohol excessively or illegal substances, and not engage in tracking his wife’s whereabouts. Brooks is ordered not to have any contact with her while awaiting further court proceedings.

Less than a year after retiring as sheriff, Brooks was arrested in Lynchburg in 2016 after using cameras hidden in a hotel in 2013 to film his political rival, Mack Bridgwater, then an Amherst County sheriff's deputy, having sex with a woman who was not his wife.

Bridgwater worked for both the Amherst and Nelson County sheriff's offices, and has twice run against Brooks for sheriff in Nelson County, once in 2007 and again in 2011.

Brooks shared the video with Bridgwater’s boss in Amherst County, Sheriff Jimmy Ayers, who had a strict policy that no deputy was allowed to remain in the department if they had an extramarital affair.

Bridgwater resigned from the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office shortly after Brooks shared the video with Ayers.

The Virginia State Police opened an investigation into Brooks and reported that he had used public funds to set up his spy equipment. He was charged with unlawful creation and sharing of images of another person, malfeasance and embezzlement of public funds.

According to court records, Brooks entered Alford pleas to the counts of malfeasance and illegally disseminating images of another person — which he admitted there was enough evidence to convict him at trial while maintaining his innocence. In November 2016, he was sentenced in Lynchburg Circuit Court to one year on each charge, but both years were suspended.

Lynchburg’s commonwealth’s attorney at the time, Michael Doucette, chose not to prosecute the embezzlement charge or the charge that Brooks created images of another person.

Brooks served as sheriff from 2008 to 2015 and did not seek a third term.

Doucette, who served as Nelson Circuit Court’s judge from May 2020 through his retirement this summer, nearly a decade ago said Brooks’ plea agreement was “basically a life bar” from serving in law enforcement ever again, and he would voice his objections if he learned the former sheriff sought such employment in the future.

A protective order against him is in place through a hearing scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Oct. 15 in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Brooks faces three Class 1 misdemeanor charges, which each carry a maximum of a year in jail.