FBI, others join inquiry into no-show Norfolk employee

NORFOLK

The FBI has joined a growing list of law enforcers trying to figure out how a woman who didn't show up for work at a community services organization for 12 years continued to be paid and to what extent others might be involved.

City Attorney Bernard Pishko said the employee is no longer on the payroll and that others in the organization are being questioned to see whether they had any involvement in a scheme to funnel money. As of Tuesday, no one else with the Norfolk Community Services Board had been suspended or fired.

"These are people that are showing up for work," Pishko said of those being questioned. "Decisions are pending."

The employee, Jill McGlone, was paid by the Community Services Board, which relies on federal, state and local funding to provide mental health and substance abuse treatment, among other services. Employees of the organization work for the board, not the city. The agency employs about 300 workers.

McGlone was paid in the $15,000 range at the start and was receiving just more than $25,000 when she was taken off the payroll, Pishko said.

She lives on Jacquelyn Court in Norfolk in a house that property records show she and Alonzo D. McGlone purchased in 2000 for $104,900. She declined requests for interviews.

"I met with an FBI agent, a local special agent, and he's going to be investigating," said Jack Cloud, a deputy attorney in Pishko's office. "He's being directed by the U.S. Attorney's Office."

Cloud said he talked recently with representatives from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General and the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services. The FBI has declined to comment.

An investigation by the Community Services Board and the city attorney, which represents it, will be turned over to Norfolk police, according to the city attorney.

Maureen Womack, executive director of the Community Services Board, reported the problem to her governing board and then to the city attorney, the city attorney's office said. The Norfolk City Council appoints the agency's governing board, which picks the executive director.

Womack was appointed in early 2009, replacing George Pratt, who retired. Pratt said Monday that he was not familiar with McGlone.

"There were audits every year. Expensive audits every year," Pratt said. "I cannot imagine how something like this could occur.

"Every employee has a performance evaluation every year, and their increases or any changes are based on that."

City Councilman Andy Protogyrou, a criminal defense attorney, sent an e-mail to the city clerk saying he wants the city to recommend that a criminal case be prosecuted.

"If pay was conducted online, a wire fraud count can be brought and conspiracy is much easier to prosecute in Federal Court," he wrote. "Guidelines will assure jail time in years."

In an interview, Protogyrou said the case could be more easily prosecuted in the federal system, especially if a telephone, e-mail or direct deposit was used.

"It takes two to tango on something like this - or more," he said.

Pilot writer Steven G. Vegh contributed to this report.

Patrick Wilson, (757) 222-3893, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com