Despite the buzz about no-show, inquiry has been oh-so-slow

It's about time.

Norfolk residents must be saying that, following the news that a Circuit Court judge impaneled a special grand jury to investigate the maddening case of a no-show worker. Jill McGlone, an employee at the local Community Services Board, raked in $320,000 over a 12-year period.

Residents may also be screaming, "Hallelujah!" as well as, "What took so darn long?"

Judge Charles E. Poston took the rare step this week of convening the grand jury at the court's directive, instead of by a prosecutor's request. Several legal officials, some with decades of experience in South Hampton Roads, couldn't recall a previous time this tool was used in the region.

Chief Judge Junius P. Fulton told me that Poston had the unanimous backing of the other circuit court judges. Poston declined to answer my questions Wednesday, including how he picked the potential grand jurors.

Earlier investigations by Norfolk police and the commonwealth attorney's office ended without criminal indictments. Those decisions frustrated many residents.

The scandal broke in 2010. Then-chief Maureen Womack had recently taken the helm at the CSB and acted to end the payments to McGlone. Womack fired or forced out five employees; four of them later sued the city, which is in turn trying to sue them.

Still, citizens have wondered why nobody faces criminal charges in what appeared to be fraud, mismanagement or worse. The court's action late Tuesday focuses attention on at least two areas:

--How did Poston select the named potential grand jurors? They include John O. Simpson, the highly respected former superintendent of Norfolk Public Schools. The court can pick anybody who meets the criteria of regular grand jurors, as long as there is no conflict of interest. But are the individuals selected too closely linked to the city's power brokers, including Norfolk council members?

--What does the unusual judicial intervention, in the works at least a month, say about the city's top prosecutor? The action appears to be a pointed criticism of Gregory Underwood's decision not to bring criminal charges against McGlone or others.

No one's saying that publicly, however.

Fulton, the chief judge, said he has "every confidence in the Norfolk commonwealth's attorney's office," and that the special grand jury "is not in any way a comment upon the previous actions" of the prosecutor's office.

Underwood, in a letter sent to Poston dated Jan. 31, noted that the city had filed an amended civil complaint in October. Underwood said that a "criminal legal review of the amended complaint and associated materials may be warranted to determine whether they contain new information relevant to the criminal investigation."

That's probably true. But if criminal charges are eventually filed, isn't that a criticism of Underwood's probe?

He told my colleague Lou Hansen on Wednesday that he stands by his earlier decision not to charge McGlone.

Residents want, and deserve, an end to the CSB scandal. The special grand jury could provide a path to get there.

Roger Chesley, 757-446-2329, roger.chesley@pilotonline.com