Homeland Security IOG assisting in ongoing Richwood flood money probe

RICHWOOD, W.Va. — The special prosecutor handling the flood money fraud case in Richwood says the ongoing investigation could produce additional criminal charges.

“I can say there are names you haven’t heard yet,” Nicholas County Special Prosecutor Steve Connolly, who works in the state Auditor’s fraud office, said on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.” “Where it goes and whether the evidence is there to be able to avail a prosecution, we aren’t certain at this point.”

The probe, which has focused on federal flood relief money that came to Richwood in the months after the June 2016 flood, now includes the assistance of the Inspector General’s Office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Connolly said.

“Unbeknownst to us they were working one side of the case and we had no idea of it,” Connolly said. “It wasn’t until we inherited the case back this January and learned that they had generated a great deal of information that we were unaware of and had violated and confirmed that we had in our investigative report that was made public back in March of 2018.”

That report said there was more than $3 million in question. Investigators are still looking for answers in connection with approximately $1.3 million.

Bob Henry Baber

Four former Richwood officials have already been charged but charges have only advanced against former Richwood Mayor Bob Henry Baber. He pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of obtaining money under false pretenses. He’ll be sentenced later this year.

Also charged in March 2019 were former Richwood recorder and former mayor Chris Drennen, former city clerk Abby McClung and former police chief Lloyd Cogar. Connolly said they have been cooperating with investigators and all charges may be dropped.

Connolly said the next step in the investigation is to determine who the decision makers were when it came spending the flood money.

Chris Drennen

“Who was involved if there was a conspiracy if there was some scheme? Who are they and can we hold them accountable based on the evidence we have?”

He said the IGO of Homeland Security will play a role.

“We’ve been working with them. We’re going to continue to work hard with them and see what state level prosecution we can be able to obtain,” he said.





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