dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN – The Dominion Post reported on Tuesday that the Dunbar School Foundation STOP program – is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for potential misuse of public funds. The foundation and former DSF STOP CEO Romelia Hodges have been ordered to provide an array of documents to the DOJ by U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Aloi.
The DOJ served Hodges and STOP with a Civil Investigative Demand in conjunction with a state investigation by the Office of Inspector General, and the motion to enforce the demand submitted to Aloi by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Savino provides details on the case.
STOP was a COVID-19 program created to serve the African-American population in Marion and surrounding counties and funded through federal COVID funds channeled through the former Department of Health and Human Resources. It ceased operation in June 2023.
The DOJ alleges Hodges and DSF STOP (referred to by its alternate version, Stop, in the motion) “submitted false claims, either directly or indirectly, to the U.S. government,” a potential violation of the False Claims Act.
The DOJ formulated its Civil Investigative Demand in March and a STOP representative was first served on May 20, with a 20-day deadline to respond.
Savino’s motion says, “Despite granting multiple extensions and multiple attempts to secure Dunbar Stop’s compliance with the CID for nearly four months, Dunbar Stop has refused to produce documents or respond to the CID’s interrogatories.”
The Dominion Post began investigating DSF STOP in early 2023 and produced a series of stories that May and June. The motion sometimes quotes or paraphrases information from the stories.
Using language from our stories, Savino told Aloi its investigation “indicates that Dunbar Stop may have misused the grant funds for nepotism, excessive executive salaries and bonuses, ATM withdrawals, luxury vehicle rentals, travel, and food.”
After receiving the demand, the motion says, Hodges contacted the U.S. Attorney’s office and was granted an extension to July 15. On that day, Hodges requested another extension, to July 30, citing difficulties “compiling the vast amount of information, delays in receiving the requested information” and the July 4 holiday.
She was granted a second and final extension. But on July 22 she told Savino’s office that a Freedom of Information Act request to the state Department of Health (DH) was delayed until Aug. 25 and she had asked the DH for help obtaining the information.
DOJ told her to supply what she had by July 30 and submit the rest after the FOIA request was fulfilled.
“Hodges did not make a production by July 30, 2024, and did not return calls made by the United States,” Savino told Aloi. On Sept. 11, DOJ told Hodges they would be forced to file a motion to enforce the Civil Investigative Demand if they didn’t receive an update. ON Sept. 16, she told them she was working on arrangements with her attorney, who would contact the DOJ.
The attorney, First Assistant Federal Public Defender Richard Walker, left Savino a voicemail on Sept. 20, and they spoke the following week. Walker asked if Hodges was to be criminally prosecuted and Savino told him she could not disclose that; DOJ needed Stop’s response to continue the investigation.
Walker then told Savino he could not represent Hodges unless she was criminally prosecuted and requested an update if anything changed.
“Since speaking with Walker, the United States has heard nothing further from Hodges and still has not received a response to the CID,” Savino said.
She cited further excuses by Hodges. In July, Hodges told DOJ the information was being loaded into a 1 terabyte external drive. In September, she attributed the delay the “the massive amount of documentation.”
Savino pointed out that case law indicates that compliance requiring thousands of documents is an insufficient excuse. And despite granting extensions, “Dunbar Stop has not produced any documents or responded to any of the interrogatories.” And producing the documents won’t disrupt Stop’s work since it’s no longer operating.
