A grand jury has indicted all of Warren County’s top government officials on charges of misfeasance as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of embezzlement and money laundering inside the local economic development authority, Virginia State Police announced Tuesday.

Among the 14 people charged were County Executive Douglas Stanley and all five members of the county’s Board of Supervisors: Chairman Daniel Murray, R-North River; Tony Carter, R-Happy Creek; Tom Sayre, R-Shenandoah; Archie Fox, R-Fork; and Linda Glavis, R-South River. Former Warren schools Superintendent Luke Drescher and former County Attorney Daniel Whitten also were charged.

An official at the office of the Warren commonwealth’s attorney, which is handling the criminal investigation, declined to comment.

Stanley, Warren’s county executive, declined to comment, as did Whitten, the former county attorney. Several others did not immediately return messages for comment.

Former Warren Supervisor Ron Llewellyn, who was also indicted, said the charges stem from allegations that local officials did not react quickly enough to suspicions that Jennifer McDonald, a former director of the economic development authority, was embezzling $21 million in agency money.

McDonald has been charged with 28 felony counts in that investigation, which, among other things, alleges that she doctored invoices to steer money into bank accounts that she controlled in a scheme to enrich herself, her friends and her family.

“I don’t know how we could have acted any faster,” said Llewellyn, who served on the board of the economic authority when McDonald’s alleged crimes occurred.

Less than a week after an independent review of the agency’s books found suspected illegal activity by McDonald, the board moved to fire her last December, Llewellyn said. McDonald — who is also facing a civil lawsuit filed by the authority — resigned from her position before that happened; she was arrested in May. She is now among several people facing felony charges in the alleged schemes.

“I don’t know how we should have known earlier,” Llewellyn said. “The accountants are supposed to do their job. Am I supposed to go and ask them if I can review their books and their auditing positions? I’m not in a position where I would understand it if I saw it.”

Local activists, who have argued that McDonald couldn’t have pulled off her alleged crimes without help from inside the county government, said Tuesday’s indictment proves there is more to investigate.

“Somebody is finally listening,” said Melanie Salins, a member of a community watchdog group called the Warren County Coalition. “It’s not every day that your entire government gets arrested. It’s so shameful.”

Warren County is in the Shenandoah Valley and includes the town of Front Royal.

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