(Richmond Times-Dispatch) Former Petersburg City Attorney Brian K. Telfair asked a city employee to buy a prepaid cellphone that he later used to make a phone call to himself — a call that Telfair told police was made by an unknown “redneck” caller who made racist threats to the mayor and two other city officials, according to court records.

The phony call led to the abrupt cancellation of a Petersburg City Council meeting in February 2016 after city officials received word that residents were upset about high water bills and other financial issues plaguing the city, according to court records related to Telfair’s pending misdemeanor criminal charge of lying to police about the supposed threat to city officials.

Documents in Telfair’s case file in Petersburg General District Court outline what appears to be much of the prosecution’s case against the former city attorney, who resigned in March 2016. Special prosecutor Benjamin H. Garrison provided the material to Telfair’s attorney in response to a pretrial motion for evidence against his client.

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