Virginia drops embezzlement charge against ex-game official

RICHMOND

State prosecutors stopped efforts Tuesday to pursue a felony embezzlement case against a former Virginia game official who had been accused of misusing public money to go on an African safari in 2004.

Terry C. Bradbery, a former warden with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, declined comment after Richmond Circuit Judge C.N. Jenkins agreed to drop the case against him at the request of the attorney general's office.

His lawyer criticized Attorney General Bob McDonnell's office for trying to bring Bradbery to trial more than 3-1/2 years after the safari.

"In my considered professional opinion, the charges, if there were any, should have been brought long ago," said Murray Janus, Bradbery's counsel.

Bradbery is one of three former top-ranking game officials indicted on embezzlement charges last September in connection with a two-week trip they took in the fall of 2004. A subsequent state audit revealed that $11,532 was charged to state credit cards to supply the trip.

The dropping of Bradbery's case is the second setback in the attorney general's effort to prosecute the three.

Bradbery was scheduled to stand trial on June 3. If convicted, he faced a maximum sentence of 10 years

in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Last month, Richmond Circuit Judge Beverly W. Snukals dismissed two embezzlement counts against Michael G. Caison, a former game warden, ruling that the state had not produced enough evidence during the opening day of his trial.

Caison said his bosses had authorized all of his purchases.

During a short court hearing on Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Patrick Dorgan said "recent developments in a related case" helped compel his office to drop its prosecution of Bradbery.

Dorgan also said a key witness "who is under indictment" would be "unavailable" to testify against Bradbery. Dorgan did not mention the witness 's name.

The attorney general's office still intends to prosecute William L. Woodfin Jr., the former director of the game department.

Woodfin, who is scheduled to stand trial June 5 on one embezzlement count, had been listed as a potential

witness in Bradbery's trial.

A 2005 state audit found that the game officials who went on the safari used state money to pay for passport fees, luggage, cameras, walking sticks, DVD players, neck pillows, inoculations, snacks, clothing and shoes.

The trip was the idea of Dan Hoffler, a Virginia Beach developer who in 2004 was chairman of a board overseeing the game department. Hoffler accompanied the officials on the safari and eventually reimbursed the state for its costs.

In 2005, then Attorney General Judith Jagd-

mann turned the audit over to the state police for investigation but did not take further action.

McDonnell came to office in January 2006. Because he had received $25,000 in campaign contributions from Hoffler and his company, McDonnell divested himself from the case and turned it over to his chief deputy, William Mims.

Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com