Hampton council member Chris Bowman issued a formal apology at Wednesday’s council meeting.
In a statement he read aloud, Bowman said he had learned valuable lessons and that he was receiving professional counseling.
“I am a work in progress and hardly perfect. But I need to be the best Chris Bowman I can be for people who depend on me,” he said.
Bowman was formally censured at a council meeting on August 9. In early 2022, while Bowman was soliciting a sex worker, his phone was stolen by a man who then extorted him for $5000.
Bowman paid, but took the matter to police when he didn’t get his phone back.
The rest of the Hampton City Council members unanimously voted to formally censure Bowman when his involvement with a sex worker came to light. Bowman was named in the indictment of the man who robbed him.
Bowman asks for forgiveness from constituents, and that he would not resign.
“I will not hide or stop helping the city I love,” he said.