Virginia Beach Sheriff Ken Stolle will retire by end of year, Councilman Rocky Holcomb will succeed him

VIRGINIA BEACH — Longtime Virginia Beach Sheriff Ken Stolle announced Tuesday he plans to retire by the end of the year.

“The last 13 years have been the most rewarding of my career,” Stolle wrote in an email to his staff and then forwarded to City Council. “I am so proud to be your sheriff and to have had the privilege of leading you and serving alongside you. We have accomplished some incredible things together and have made the VBSO, the jail and Virginia Beach better, safer places.”

Stolle, 69, said he plans to focus on his family, and “make room for the next generation of leadership.”

Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer described Stolle as a “pillar, not only for Virginia Beach, but for the entire commonwealth.”

The sheriff will be replaced by Chief Deputy Rocky Holcomb — the next highest ranking member of the department — until a special election can be held in November 2024. Holcomb said he plans to run then.

Holcomb also is a City Council member representing District 1, and said he’ll resign from that role before assuming his new one. His colleagues on council will appoint a replacement to serve through the end of 2024. The district includes portions of Kempsville, Lake Christopher and Bellamy Manor.

“It’s bittersweet,” Holcomb said by phone Tuesday. “To rise to this level is very humbling.”

Stolle, a Republican, was first elected sheriff in 2009 and took office in January 2010. He ran for his fourth term in 2021 and was supposed to serve until January 2026.

A graduate of Cox High School, Stolle earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 1975 and worked as a Virginia Beach police officer from 1976 to 1987.

He studied the law while working as a police officer, was admitted to the Virginia State Bar in 1983 and became a full time lawyer in 1987. In 1991, he was elected a state senator and continued to serve until elected sheriff. He also worked eight years as a United State Naval Reserve intelligence officer. In 2006, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological disease that can impair motor skills.

Among the accomplishments Stolle is most proud of is creating several programs to assist inmates, including a reentry program to help them successfully transition back into society, an alternative sentencing program for nonviolent offenders, and a mental health program for those suffering from mental illness, according to a release issued by his office. He also has worked to improve pay for his deputies and expand the department’s footprint in the community, the release said.

Holcomb, 55, started his career in the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office as a deputy recruit in 1991. He was appointed chief deputy in May 2018. He served as a state delegate for the 85th District from 2017 to 2018.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com