Staunton prosecutor gets protective order against man, charges filed

STAUNTON — It started with a request for an interview.

In February, Aaron Q. Barmer was downtown when he approached Staunton Commonwealth’s Attorney John Baber, who had been sworn into office weeks earlier, and asked to speak with him.

Baber told him to contact his office.

What appeared to be a routine interaction would not end there. In the months that followed, Baber said that Barmer repeatedly attempted to approach him and his family, eventually prompting the prosecutor to seek a preliminary protective order (PPO).

In early July, police arrested Barmer, 49, after he allegedly violated the PPO. He was held at Middle River Regional Jail for four days and released on July 7, a jail official said. Bail was set at $2,500.

Charged with two PPO violations, Barmer’s next court appearance is set for later this month.

Baber files affidavit seeking PPO

Based on an affidavit for a PPO that was filed by Baber on June 22, the prosecutor first met Barmer in mid-February on West Beverley Street on a workday. Barmer, listed in court files as self-employed and “currently publishing,” has previously been involved in local activism, including efforts to rename Staunton’s former Stonewall Jackson Hotel. He asked Baber for an interview.

“I told him to contact my office to follow up,” Baber said in the affidavit.

He didn’t hear back from Barmer, at least not right away.

Months later at a Staunton City Council meeting on May 28, Baber was addressing the council about a spate of juvenile-related car burglaries in which guns were stolen from unlocked vehicles. After Baber finished speaking, Barmer stood up and, speaking into a microphone, asked whether any of the victims would be charged. He then demanded he “pay attention to him instead of being on my phone,” Baber said in the affidavit.

As Baber drove away from the meeting, Barmer tried to flag him down but the prosecutor said he kept driving.

The next morning, Barmer was spotted outside Baber’s office on New Street screaming profanities and demanding to see him, the affidavit said. Baber wasn’t there. Standing outside, Barmer called Baber’s secretary and reportedly accused her of being racist before leaving.

A couple of days later on June 1, Barmer was again outside of Baber’s office demanding a meeting. More racial allegations were made, the affidavit said.

That same day, Barmer sent an email to The News Leader and others containing a message he’d sent to Baber. The email touched on an interaction between the prosecutor and Barmer at the Staunton courthouse concerning a verbal trespass order. It also included numerous racial slurs. In the email, Barmer said he has “multiple permanent disabilities” but didn’t elaborate, and he also issued a public records request that included Baber’s court docket and work schedule.

“I ain’t scared of you boy, and you won’t have a re-election before I’m done organizing against you if you think all of a sudden you will be the one to put Mr. Aaron Barmer in his place,” he said.

In a letter to the Augusta Free Press in 2025, Barmer, who said he had multiple sclerosis, wrote about exercising his nonviolent First Amendment rights and mentioned his penchant for using chalk on city property. “I literally have brain damage. But it’s not like I’m going to stop chalking,” he said.

On the evening of June 4, Baber said he was downtown with his wife and two young children, a toddler and an infant, and eating gelato on West Beverley Street across from The Split Banana. He said Barmer walked by, turned and began yelling about “racism and Jim Crow” from about 10 feet away. Baber said he asked Barmer to leave, which he did. He later returned, and Baber said he started “yelling about racism again before leaving.”

Baber said around this same timeframe that he reportedly began receiving “taunting and abusive” emails from Barmer. He said he offered to meet him at the Staunton Police Department to address his concerns. However, Barmer declined unless the prosecutor was willing to rescind his verbal trespass order. Baber also asked that Barmer refrain from “bothering” him while with his family. According to Baber, Barmer accused him of “hiding behind white women and children.”

On the morning of June 15, Baber said he was in his car at a stoplight at the intersection of West Beverley Street and New Street when Barmer approached his vehicle on foot and demanded he roll down the window. After Barmer asked if the trespass notice still stood, and Baber said it did, he reportedly hurled a string of profanities at the prosecutor followed by an obscene hand gesture. Baber said he drove up the street and parked.

“I told Aaron Barmer to ‘grow up’ and ‘behave,’ and entered my office,” Baber said.

That night, Baber said he was on East Beverley Street with his wife, Cassandra Baber, a former Staunton prosecutor, and a friend, taking a walk after dinner. He said Barmer approached the group and got within 5 feet of them and said, “You better not look at me, boy,” according to the affidavit.

Five days later, on June 20, Baber and his family attended the Juneteenth Celebration at Montgomery Hall Park in Staunton. “I was wearing my sleeping newborn child on my chest in a child carrier the entire time,” Baber said in the affidavit.

Barmer arrived and began setting up a tripod. Soon after, he approached Baber and demanded an interview. “He put his phone up near my face with his hand, within a foot of my daughter,” Baber said.

The prosecutor said he asked Barmer to leave him alone multiple times but said he followed him for a “few hundred feet.” Baber said he stopped to speak to a couple at the event in an effort to surround himself with other people while his wife corralled their toddler.

“Aaron Barmer stood behind me continuing to ask questions for at least thirty seconds before finally leaving,” he said in the affidavit. “I did not turn around again.”

On the same day, Baber said Barmer published a blog post detailing the whereabouts of his toddler during the Juneteenth event, suggesting he’d “been watching me for some time before approaching me.” In the blog post, Barmer commented on what Baber’s wife was wearing at the event and said the prosecutor looked like a “suicide bomber.”

“ … you know I’m a Muslim John Baber II, so to me like you came there with your family as human shields. … honestly like I thought it was entirely inappropriate you rolling up into the event the way you rolled into the event,” Barmer wrote in the blog. It also disparaged this News Leader reporter and WHSV.

After calling Baber a “coward,” Barmer said the prosecutor will “continue to receive the treatment he has been receiving without fear or favor until he has learned a small small small lesson which is that: I am not (expletive) kidding man.”

In the affidavit, Baber said he filed for a PPO because Barmer “makes me feel fear for my family’s safety.”

PPO violations alleged, arrest made

After a magistrate issued an emergency protective order on June 24, Barmer allegedly violated it two times earlier this month. The first time, on July 2, he was accused of approaching Baber, who was downtown with his wife and toddler, and stating, “I’ll see you in court.” When Baber asked him not to violate the PPO, Barmer reportedly said “violate this” and made an obscene hand gesture.

“I have had a reoccurring problem with him accosting my family after work hours,” Baber said in a criminal complaint. “We have no relationship whatsoever. He has become focused on me because of my official position.”

In a second July 3 complaint, Baber alleges Barmer continued to approach him while with his family, and said he was reportedly seen writing on the wall of Staunton Courthouse in chalk that Baber “taunts and sexually harasses black men.”

Both Baber and Barmer declined comment for this article.

Barmer’s next court appearance is set for Tuesday, July 22, in Staunton General District Court.

On July 6, Circuit Judge Anne Reed appointed Erin B. Barr, Chesterfield County’s commonwealth’s attorney, as a special prosecutor to handle the case after Baber filed a motion citing his obvious conflict of interest.

“The victim in this matter is myself, John Baber,” he said in the motion to appoint a special prosecutor.

Reporting by Brad Zinn, Staunton News Leader