Federal authorities grew concerned about the descriptions and histories of confidential informants offered in some of Norton’s affidavits, leading a U.S. District Court judge to toss out convictions against three people last year.

Michael N. Herring, the Richmond commonwealth’s attorney, then started an investigation into hundreds of cases handled by Norton while an officer from 2004 to 2013 to see if any warranted corrective action in city court, as was done at the federal level.

Norton’s work is under review by a special prosecutor. Efforts to reach him for comment since he left a job with the Hopewell Sheriff’s Office have been unsuccessful.

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Testifying at a Feb. 4 Richmond Circuit Court hearing on a prosecution motion to vacate a conviction in a Norton case, Lt. Brian Corrigan, who oversees the confidential informant program for the special investigations division, said another officer or supervisor need not be present when a detective gains information for a search warrant from an informant. “A lot of times it’s happening over a cellphone,” he testified.