Second communications officer had the city’s credit card blocked

Officials confirmed Monday that the purchasing card of Raymond Dark Jr., a senior assistant in the Office of Strategic Communications and Civic Engagement, had been blocked. Officials did not provide a specific reason for the blocking.

A 2023 credit card transaction log obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that Dark abruptly stopped using his credit card in September after nearly $64,000 had been charged to it in the first nine months of 2023.

Records also show that in 2023, the office’s public information manager, Tamara Jenkins, used her city purchasing card to purchase $6,500 worth of services from Play 4 Production: a public relations agency registered to a former business partner of Jenkins’ then-boss Burks.

Burks resigned from her position as office manager on July 1 after the Times-Dispatch reported that her card had been suspended for 11 months due to outstanding balances and inadvertent use for personal expenses.

The Times-Dispatch also reported that Burks had used her shopping card to spend nearly $100,000 at her former business partner’s consulting and advertising firms.

City officials said Burks was resigning to “pursue other opportunities.”

Gianni Snidle, a spokesman for Mayor Levar Stoney, confirmed that the shopping card assigned to Dark had been suspended, but did not provide immediate details.

Dark, who worked under Burks before his departure, charged the card $63,982.96 in the first nine months of 2023 before he stopped using it on Sept. 26, according to a transaction log for the card. The charges included about $5,600 for purchases categorized as “promotional services,” about $4,400 at Amazon and $3,071 at Top Golf.

When asked why Dark’s card was blocked, Snidle said he would check with officials at the city’s procurement office, which issues the purchasing cards and oversees the program.

Dark could not immediately be reached for comment.

A transaction log for Jenkins’ shopping card shows a $6,500 purchase from Play 4 Production: a company registered to Cameus Chicoye. Public records show that Chicoye and Burks are former business partners and previously founded a company together in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Last year, Burks spent $98,980 on her purchasing card at Play 4 Production and LC Studios – a Florida-based company also linked to Chicoye – before the card was suspended in July 2023, records show. The charge at Play 4 Production on Jenkins’ card is dated Oct. 21.

Jenkins did not respond to multiple inquiries about the nature of her relationship with Chicoye and Play 4 Production.

Snidle said Play 4 Production was hired to create several promotional videos for the city, but declined to comment on the relationship between Jenkins and Chicoye.

Since January 2023, five purchasing cards have been blocked by procurement officials, Snidle said.

These five cards belong to Burks, Dark, Richmond Registrar General Keith Balmer, Deputy Registrar Jerry Richardson and Adrienne Davis, who works in the Richmond Elections Office.

The Times-Dispatch previously reported that Balmer and Richardson’s purchasing cards were revoked as investigators investigated allegations of nepotism and financial irregularities in the election office. And charges on Davis’ card were stopped on Sept. 29 after $63,000 in purchases were made in 2023.

Snidle did not give a reason for blocking Davis’ card.

Twenty other purchasing cards were canceled after officials left their jobs with the city, lost their cards, requested a name change, took an extended vacation or requested that their cards be canceled, Snidle said.