U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia Story Archives

Feds Partner With Local Agencies To Reduce Domestic Violence

Two regions of West Virginia have been given a special designation intended to reduce domestic violence involving firearms.

Of the 19 West Virginia homicides linked to domestic violence in 2020, 14 of them involved firearms. Now the Charleston and Wheeling areas are among 78 communities nationwide approved for concerted federal efforts to reduce intimate partner firearm violence.

U.S. Attorney Will Thompson, of the Southern District of West Virginia, will oversee efforts in Kanawha County.

“Usually [in a] highly volatile domestic violence situation, somebody’s going to end up dead,” Thompson said.

“Not only do we worry about the victims of domestic violence, I also worry about my law enforcement partners. Some of the most volatile situations they ever have to encounter while they’re on duty is walking in not knowing who’s gonna be armed or not armed,” he added.

In the Northern District of the state, U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld will handle cases in Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock counties. He says the designation means prosecutors won’t always have to rely on victims, who are often reluctant to testify against abusers.

“Most of the domestic violence cases are charged in state court. We’re talking about misdemeanor domestic battery and domestic assault. We’re talking about felony domestic violence. We’re talking about violations of protective orders that occur just within a particular county and don’t involve interstate commerce,” Ihlenfeld said. “The overwhelming number of those cases are prosecuted at the state level. What we can offer from the federal level is stiffer penalties.”

Ihlenfeld also said the designation makes it easier to prosecute domestic violence cases because they don’t rely as heavily on testimony from victims who may be reluctant to testify.

The Justice Department anticipates additional jurisdictions will be designated for focused attention in the future.

Crime Survivors, Advocates Honored With Ceremony

A ceremony held Thursday morning in Charleston honored survivors of crimes and their advocates. The annual event featured remarks from U.S. Attorney Will Thompson.

Survivors of crimes and their advocates gathered Thursday morning for a ceremony at the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse in Charleston.

Held days before the start of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the annual event aims to raise awareness about victims’ rights and grant recognition to the daily resilience of crime survivors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia and Operation Reach Out organized the event. U.S. Attorney Will Thompson honored survivors and those who support them.

“We see the trauma and the lifelong journey of dealing with the tremendous grief and loss,” Thompson said. “We also get to see the strength and tenacity of survivors and families.”

All five current justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia — Chief Justice Tim Armstead, Justice Beth Walker, Justice John Hutchison, Justice William Wooton and Justice Haley Bunn — attended Thursday’s ceremony.

During the ceremony, Thompson also presented awards to advocacy groups across the state for their work supporting survivors.

“I look out here, and I see a lot of people representing different roles. I see people who [have] been working with victims for their professional career. Perhaps more importantly, I see victims and I see survivors,” he said. “Take a moment, think about them. I think it shows remarkable strength and courage for the surviving families to come out today.”

Thompson presented awards for excellence in victim advocacy and justice to the following recipients:

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
Mission West Virginia
YWCA Charleston
An investigative team from Mercer County, which included representatives from the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, Child Protect of Mercer County and the West Virginia Department of Human Services

For more information about national Crime Victims’ Rights Week, visit the United States Office for Victims of Crime’s website.

State Recovers Nearly $1 Million From Check Fraud Scheme

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.

Human Trafficking Survivor Discusses Moving Forward

When federal prosecutors released arrest information on the people involved in trafficking Jane Doe, it made national headlines because one of the perpetrators was the police chief in the small town where they lived.

Editor’s Note: A warning, there is no explicit language in this reporting, but some of the topics may be difficult for some listeners. The first story in this three-part series gave an overview of human trafficking in West Virginia. The second story covered law enforcement and prosecution. Now, in our final story, we hear from Jane Doe, a human trafficking survivor. We have agreed to change her name to protect her identity.

When federal prosecutors released arrest information on the people involved in trafficking Jane Doe, it made national headlines, because one of the perpetrators was the police chief in the small town where they lived.

Doe was just 17 years old when this all started.

“They’ve taken three years of my life telling a story that wasn’t even true,” she said. “There was missing parts of it, and I just want to be able to fill the missing pieces with what actually happened.”

In Doe’s case, her stepmother sold her to a man for sex. That man should have been someone she reported the crime to, not the other way around.

Both people have been convicted of their crimes. The stepmother has been sentenced, but the man has not received his punishment yet.

Doe’s birth father struggled with addiction and was out of the picture. Then she lost her mother to cancer and her stepfather eventually remarried. Her stepmother used that as leverage.

“I was told that if I did not do it, that she had my stepdad wrapped around her finger and my mom was gone,” Doe said. “I would never have anybody to love or care about me ever again. If I didn’t do it, I’d be out on the streets.”

Doe’s stepfather wasn’t arrested in connection with this human trafficking case, but Doe said she felt like she was on her own.

“No one would believe me. I was just a girl who lost her mom,” she said. “I was always accused of making up stories, that it was always my fault, that I asked for it, that I wanted it. And I never did. It made me hate myself that people looked at me that way.”

At one point, Doe even attempted suicide. But, despite everything she went through, she has come through the situation stronger.

“It made me who I am today,” Doe said. “And without that, I don’t know if I could face what life throws at me. So I just cope with it day by day. I don’t want to think about it. But the only way to move on from it is to think about it, and put the pieces back together of what was broken.”

Doe has a message for others who may be in a similar situation.

“Don’t give up just because something bad happens to you,” she said. “There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. I didn’t even see it until the support system that I had backed me up and showed me that I could get through anything.”

As it turned out, once she came forward, Doe developed a new support system. One of those people was Tracy Chapman, the victim advocate for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of West Virginia.

“My role is to work with the folks in the system such as investigative agents, assistant U.S. attorneys, probation officers, the courts,” she said. “Making sure that those rights are afforded to victims and making sure that victims know what those rights are and what those services are, that they deserve to help them to heal and overcome the trauma and abuse that they’ve endured.”

One way victim’s advocates help is by making sure victims are prepared to exercise the very important right of letting their voice be heard at sentencing.

“Jane is certainly a survivor,” Chapman said. “She is not a victim. And she exercised that right in a very, very powerful statement at sentencing. Exercising her right, making sure that the court was aware of the impact of the crime on her throughout her life.”

The following is Jane Doe’s victim statement she wrote for her stepmother and originally read it in court:

“You were supposed to be a mother figure in my life when my mom passed away. You have four beautiful babies of your own, yet you still hurt me, a kid. I know that you would never want this to happen to one of your kids. So what made you think it was okay to do it to somebody else’s? I was supposed to look up to you in life as a parent, a role model, a mother figure. I was supposed to trust you and put my faith in you that you would never do something so wrong, that it caused me so much pain.

My life fell apart when everything happened. And you didn’t seem to notice nor care how it affected me. You knew what you were doing is wrong, but you did it anyway. I don’t sleep at night. I don’t trust anyone. I don’t even know who to look up to for guidance anymore, because I no longer have any parents. When my mom passed, all I wanted was a mother figure, someone to talk to about boys and female things that girls don’t want to talk to their dads about. Instead, I couldn’t trust you or come to you with anything. Because in your eyes, I was nothing more than a pawn, a piece of material that can be sold for money.

I was 17, a kid, a human being with feelings, and none of that mattered to you. I really wanted a family, somewhere that I felt like I belonged and living there I never felt more like an outcast, a burden, a waste of space. I felt like no matter what I did, I would never be more than just a materialistic pawn for you to use and abuse how you pleased with no consequences or rules set in place for your behavior. You ruined who I was, and you took everything from me. Everything except my voice to speak up.

Had I not spoke up, who knows how many more people would have gotten hurt because of you. But because of me, you can’t hurt anyone or use anyone as a pawn for money ever again. You broke me, but I’m rebuilding what you broke. And I will become the best version of myself, despite what you put me through. I’m no longer a victim. I’m a survivor.”
Jane Doe
Human Trafficking Survivor

“And after reading that I told her I forgave her,” Doe said.

Looking ahead, Doe said she didn’t want to see anyone else go through what she did. Her advice is to speak up.

“It can be hard because I didn’t reach out until a couple months after it had happened to me because I didn’t have anybody to reach out to,” she said. “But the pain that it causes you, I know that you wouldn’t want to see anyone else go through it. And I’ve told people that I would go through this 1001 times more, just to make sure another kid never went through it. Because I survived. And I don’t want anyone else to lose your life because of it.”

Doe said even she didn’t fully understand or believe everything that happened to her until she testified in court.

“And that is the day that I completely broke down and realized that this is real,” Doe said. “It happened to me and I cannot change the fact that it happened to me but I can change how I move forward in life and what I make of myself.”

This is the final story in a three-part series on human trafficking in West Virginia.

Human Trafficking Resources:

If you or a loved one is the victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, text 233733 or dial 911.

Top Federal Prosecutor Tapped for Southern West Virginia

A former West Virginia Republican Party chairman has been selected to become the top federal prosecutor in the southern half of the state.

President Donald Trump nominated Mike Stuart to be U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito says she recommended Stuart for the position. She says Stuart “has shown great leadership, professionalism, and character throughout his career.”

If confirmed, Stuart would take over from Carol Casto, who was appointed after former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin resigned in December 2015 to run for governor, a bid which he lost.

Stuart is an attorney from Charleston who served as state GOP chairman from 2010 to 2012. He served as a co-chairman of Trump’s West Virginia presidential campaign team.