It’s been a year since allegations of illicit recordings of cadets and other women at the West Virginia State Police barracks launched federal and state investigations into the law enforcement department.
In the aftermath, Col. J.C. Chambers was named superintendent of the state police. He spoke with reporter Chris Schulz to provide some updates on the investigations, as well as to discuss reforms he has implemented during his tenure.
It’s been a year since allegations of illicit recordings of cadets and other women at the West Virginia State Police barracks launched federal and state investigations into the law enforcement department.
In the aftermath, Col. J.C. Chambers was named superintendent of the state police. He spoke with reporter Chris Schulz to provide some updates on the investigations, as well as to discuss reforms he has implemented during his tenure.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Schulz: Can you tell me a little bit about your tenure so far? We’re approaching the one year mark?
Chambers: It’s been a long year, I would have to tell you that. One year since I’ve been back to the state police. Been a very trying year, but it’s also been a very successful year. I feel we have great people in this organization, whether that be troopers you see running up down the road every day answering calls or our civilian staff. We have a great mixture of civilians and sworn members in the West Virginia State Police, which is one of the reasons and my love for the state police to come back, as asked by the governor’s office, as superintendent.
Schulz: We’ve been talking about this timeline of a year. And I want to be clear, we’re talking about the allegations of recordings in the women’s barracks, potentially of underage minors, as well as some allegations and accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse. As I understand, this has been under investigation now for almost an entire year. Can you tell me a little bit about why these investigations are ongoing and have not been concluded yet?
Chambers: There were numerous internal investigations opened up as quickly as we could once we figured out what direction we needed to go in. There were federal investigations opened up working with the US Attorney’s Office and the FBI. One of those is still pending. I can’t comment on that one. But the other ones, I have a Department of Justice letter that I’ll read to you stating that they no longer consider the West Virginia State Police or any of its members to be a target. And like I say several members, names that were out or come up in investigations are no longer with the State Police. We’re just we’re moving forward the best we can. We’ve changed everything from training hours at Academy to accountability of hours. We put in a $450,000 security system camera system in the state police academy. Just for checks and balances. We’re working hand in hand with a lot of other state agencies now. Our purchasing and our purchasing accountability agreements have changed drastically. We work with everybody trying to improve to make our agency better and make sure we don’t have anything like this happen in the future.
I’ve got a letter here, dated from Will Thompson. He’s the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District. And it basically reads like this:
‘This letter is to inform you that consistent with Justice Manual 911-155, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District no longer considers former Trooper Mike Miller to be a target of an ongoing civil rights investigation in the Southern District of West Virginia. Additionally, the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District no longer considers the West Virginia State Police or any of its members to be targets in an ongoing investigation in the Southern District of West Virginia, involving a camera being placed in the West Virginia State Police locker room, a claim of religious persecution at the West Virginia State Police Academy and the misuse of the West Virginia State Police fleet.’
Chambers: Which is our cars and our vehicles and things like that. It says:
‘Please be advised this, this letter does not preclude the United States Attorney’s Office from re-instituting an investigation into the allegations detailed above and identifying any member as a target should circumstances change. The US Attorney’s Office Southern District appreciates the cooperation from you…
Chambers: Which was me
…the superintendent and the West Virginia State Police to have provided this office and the federal investigators in the investigations of potential wrongdoing by its members. The West Virginia State Police has been and continues to be a vital partner to the US Attorney’s Office and look forward to continuing to work with you and other members of the State Police.’
Chambers: Signed by the US Attorney.
Schulz: What possible action needs to be taken to ensure that these investigations are concluded in a timely manner. It sounds like you’re waiting for external factors. If I understand you.
Chambers: You’re right on point here, Chris. And also that we’re looking into this stuff as well. We’ll look into stuff even after they conclude what their findings are whether they decide to move forward with something or not. And if it’s something administrative, then we’ll handle it from that point on.
I know a year is not a long time. I mean, it seems like five years to be honest with you. But we have completed a lot of this stuff within a year. And there’s stuff that we can control and get done and I feel that we’ve done it as aggressively and as fast as we can. I mean my senior staff and the members in this agency are ready for this stuff to be done, completed so they can go about their jobs and feel right about the West Virginia State Police. I think it’s changing, I think it is. Our people are working. They’re out. They know they have the support from headquarters and doing this job day to day when you’re out in the field, you want to feel you are supported when you’re out here dealing with what we have to deal with daily.
Schulz: I would like to hear more about the changes that you’ve implemented.
Chambers: Culture is what members understand as an acceptable behavior. I think for me coming back, once you’re held accountable, I want them to do their job, but also want them to feel secure in knowing they’re going to be backed out here when they’re trying to do the right thing, Chris. They have to have that, they have to have that feeling. I think it is coming back. Culture’s what a community perceives as acceptable. We in the state police feel we have support in West Virginia, they don’t want to see things like this happening.
As far as changing culture, putting in a camera system, making the changes we have at the academy. We’ve been around 104 years, Chris, and to sit here and tell you, we haven’t had to make changes through that104 years, we’d be lying to you. But to change your culture overnight, it’s been around 104 years. You want to try to change things as positively as you can in a progressive, positive way. And I think that’s what we’re trying to do all the way down to our people reporting to the academy.
I’ve been asked in the past, well, how are females going to do when they come to the academy now as a cadet or a basic officer? Well, a couple things we’ve done. We put a full time female officer supervisor at the academy, they’re engaged with her. She’s doing a great job over there. The deputy superintendent meets with any female coming on that property up there when they report, then midstream, they’re talked to and at the end of their training they’re asked questions to make sure that they felt comfortable there. We have expectations for them. But they also have an outlet if they need to talk to someone or need to speak with someone. We’ve implemented things like that, that, now it’s just a normal procedure or protocol that we do.
On this West Virginia Morning, it has been a year since allegations of illicit recordings of cadets and other women at the West Virginia State Police barracks launched federal and state investigations into the law enforcement department. We speak with the superintendent of state police for an update.
On this West Virginia Morning, it has been a year since allegations of illicit recordings of cadets and other women at the West Virginia State Police barracks launched federal and state investigations into the law enforcement department.
In the aftermath, Col. J.C. Chambers was named superintendent of the state police. He spoke with Chris Schulz to provide some updates on the investigations, as well as to discuss reforms he has implemented during his tenure.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.
Chris Schulz produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
State officials report that more than $1 million was stolen from the Department of Health and Human Resources in a check fraud scheme. Roughly 85% of the stolen funds have been recovered so far.
State officials recovered more than $966,000 from a fraud scheme involving paper checks and a state agency, according to state Auditor JB McCuskey during a Friday press conference.
After the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) sent more than $1 million in checks to a Texas vendor, it was soon intercepted as part of a fraud scheme.
Fraudsters now under investigation used a chemical agent to remove the vendor’s name from the DHHR’s checks and redirect the funds to their own accounts.
Details on the incident — like the individuals responsible, and a timeline on when the fraud and investigation occurred — remain scarce, because McCuskey said the investigation remains ongoing.
So far, approximately 85 percent of the stolen funds have been recovered by McCuskey’s office, alongside investigators with the state treasurer’s office, the U.S. attorney’s office, the governor’s office, the West Virginia State Police and Truist Bank.
Agencies involved in the investigation described the recovery of stolen funds as a success story, but one that points to deeper concerns.
“Unfortunately, in the world we live in, there are a lot of fraudsters. They are very creative,” said Truist Regional President Patrick O’Malley. “It continues to be the number one risk in the banking industry.”
McCuskey said that particular risk to the state comes from the use of paper checks to transfer large amounts of money. These can be more easily redirected by outside parties, he said.
Since taking office in 2017, McCuskey said he has made a concerted effort to reduce the number of paper checks sent by state agencies. On Friday, he urged current state officials to consider opting for electronic forms of payment instead.
“If you haven’t signed up for electronic funds transfer, please do so,” he said. “You’re actually doing yourself a favor. But more than that, you’re doing the taxpayers of West Virginia a favor because it makes our jobs in finding fraud much, much easier.”
United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia Will Thompson said that instances of check fraud have been growing nationwide.
“It’s happening with obviously the state of West Virginia, but it’s also happening in private industry and private individuals,” he said. “I want to make people aware of it.”
Thompson said his office will continue to pursue a criminal investigation into the perpetrators of the fraud. He has not yet provided a timeline for the investigation or said what charges will be filed.
Capito, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, says a hearing will be held “sooner than later” on the door panel that detached from a MAX aircraft in midflight.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito wants answers about an incident involving Boeing’s 737 MAX 9.
Capito, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, says a hearing will be held “sooner than later” on the door panel that detached from a MAX aircraft in midflight.
No one was seriously injured in the incident last week, at 16,000 feet, minutes after the Alaska Airlines plane took off from Portland, Oregon. Still, Capito has many questions about it.
“Is it shoddy material? Is it shoddy work? Is it not enough inspections?” Capito said. “There’s all kinds of questions you can ask.”
The PSC’s staff filed a motion last week to compel West Virginia American Water to provide the information it requested in early December.
The West Virginia Public Service Commission’s staff says West Virginia American Water hasn’t shared the information it requested regarding a November water leak and gas outage in Charleston.
The PSC’s staff filed a motion last week to compel West Virginia American Water to provide the information it requested in early December.
PSC staff had asked the company to reply by Dec. 26. In its filing last week, the PSC staff says West Virginia American Water had failed to provide much of the requested information.
It accused the company of throwing “shade” on the PSC staff’s general investigation of the November event, which left hundreds of West Side residents without gas service, in some cases for weeks.
West Virginia American Water, in a subsequent filing, says a meeting will be scheduled this week with PSC staff to resolve the issues they raised.
West Virginia American water has said it’s premature to pin the gas outages on the water main failure. It also said it would cooperate with the PSC investigation.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said to expect more indictments like the one last week involving a DHHR manager and COVID-19 testing.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said to expect more indictments like the one last week involving a DHHR manager and COVID-19 testing.
Department of Health and Human Resources Supervisor Tim Priddy faces federal charges of lying to the FBI and false statements before a grand jury regarding the accounting of $34 million in COVID-19 tests and supplies.
An investigation uncovered multiple invoices submitted by one out-of-state vendor not named in the indictment (Company A) totaling approximately $44.7 million for more than 500,000 COVID-19 test kits. But only 50,000 of those test results were reported between October 2020 and March 2022.
Tarr said the Priddy indictment stems from his committee’s investigation into state COVID-19 testing and funding. He said decisions around taxpayer money within state agencies lack accountability and responsibility to the people.
“We have about 800,000 income taxpayers in West Virginia,” Tarr said. “That equals out to $40 per person. Send their money back. It’s just disgusting to see this happen again and again.”
During a media briefing last week, Gov. Jim Justice was asked about Priddy’s indictment. He said the pandemic had created confusion throughout the country and West Virginia state agencies.
“To say it was not a challenging time, I mean for crying out loud, it was tough stuff,” Justice said. “And Tim Priddy is suspended from the DHHR at this time and we will have to let the court decide on his fate, that’s for sure.”
Tarr said the Inspector General in Washington, D.C. is still investigating COVID-19 spending directly related to the governor’s gifts and charities funds.
“Things that happened around the Babydog Sweepstakes and things that happened around the Department of Corrections,” Tarr said. ”Monies that should have gone to the Department of Corrections, relative to their COVID expenses, instead went to the governor’s gifts and charity spots.”
In a March 2023 emailed statement from the governor’s office regarding the governor’s gifts and charities funds, Press Secretary C.J. Harvey said, “This is simply a regurgitation of old news. Unfortunately, Senator Tarr can’t let it go. The Governor’s Office firmly believes that all transactions involving the use of CARES Act funds were legal and appropriate. Decisions on the use of funds were made with the advice of legal counsel and two national CPA firms, including one who completed an independent audit and found no issues.”
Tarr said the Senate Finance Committee is still actively looking into a number of administration and state agency spending issues.
“There are investigations that are still out there,” Tarr said. “As they go forward, you’re going to see more and more of these types of indictments.”
