The Charleston Gazette provides this March 20th 2023 update on the ongoing investigation on the West Virginia Green Shirts. Here's the article in its entirety
AW


"The more we dug, the worse it stunk:"
      Justice says feds now investigating WVSP
•    By Roger Adkins radkins@hdmediallc.com 
 
   The superintendent of the West Virginia State Police resigned Monday amid investigations into alleged misconduct at the highest levels of the department.
During a 1 p.m. news briefing, Gov. Jim Justice said State Police Superintendent Col. Jan Cahill contacted him late Sunday through a member of his security detail and asked to talk. Justice said he and Cahill had an early morning meeting in Justice’s driveway Monday.
   Justice said he told Cahill during the meeting there was “no path forward” that would allow him to remain at the helm of the State Police and Cahill offered his resignation. Cahill has been superintendent for the past six years and previously served as sheriff of Greenbrier County.
   During the news briefing, Justice announced that Lt. Col. Jack Chambers of the Capitol Police has been named interim superintendent.
   Cahill’s resignation followed an announcement last week by Justice that the state Department of Homeland Security had completed an investigation into State Police misconduct alleged in an anonymous letter sent to government leaders and the news media.
   Allegations in the letter included extramarital encounters and fights between top-ranking State Police officials on state property, the use of fleet vehicles to facilitate sexual trysts, a hidden camera in a women’s locker room at the West Virginia State Police Academy in Institute, the personal use of state purchasing cards, misuse of federal grant funds, and theft of overtime.
   “The more we dug, the worse it stunk,” Justice said. “We’re going to clean it up.”
   The governor said an investigation also is continuing into the February death of Edmond Exline, who died after troopers deployed a stun gun during an encounter on Interstate 81 in Berkeley County.
   “I’ve seen the video,” Justice said. “The video is very concerning. The investigation is ongoing at this time. Jack Chambers needs to really get into this, as well.”
   On Monday, the governor acknowledged that federal authorities also are investigating some of the allegations.
   “I can promise you that the feds are already looking at this stuff, and I don’t think we should run from that,” he said. “We need to turn over every rock.”
Justice said he also wants Chambers to conduct further internal investigations into some of the accusations and to recommend appropriate responses.
“We need to clean up our own houses when we have a problem,” the governor said.
   He said the Department of Homeland Security investigation revealed that State Police officials destroyed evidence relating to a hidden camera system that was installed in a women’s locker room at the academy by an administrator in the department who has since died.
    “There were three troopers that found a thumb drive and, from that, they absolutely found the video. And then, immediately, one, if not all, jerked the thumb drive out and started stomping on it,” Justice said. “You can’t make this stuff up, can you? Now we’ve got law enforcement officers destroying evidence. It’s just not to be tolerated in any way.”
   According to the letter, a high-ranking administrator installed hidden camera surveillance in a women’s locker room inside the gymnasium at the academy in 2018, saying its purpose was to record an affair between two other top officials in the organization.
   Academy staff knew about the hidden cameras but were afraid to come forward, according to the letter. Staff members cleaning out the administrator’s office after he died uncovered hours of video footage showing multiple women — both students and troopers — changing clothes, according to the letter.
   “If there’s anything on the planet that’s despicable beyond belief, it’s this right here,” Justice said. “That’s just all there is to it. This has not occurred at the YMCA or something. This has occurred at State Police headquarters.”
He said a trooper was caught on camera stealing money from a patron of a West Virginia casino but was allowed to retire, rather than be fired, when the incident came to light.
   “I’m asking Jack Chambers to reopen that investigation and handle it properly,” Justice said.
   The governor’s chief of staff, Brian Abraham, said the Homeland Security investigation substantiated some of the allegations made in the letter but not others. Homeland Security will continue working with Chambers to investigate the matters that require further attention, he said.
   “There are matters that require additional investigation,” Abraham said. “There were allegations that were made that we were looking into, and that will continue on. There are some that we closed out, quite frankly, that we’ve determined there wasn’t sufficient evidence to move forward on.”
   According to the letter, the entire first floor of the Professional Development Center dormitory was remodeled and furnished with beds, refrigerators, couches and other luxury items and dedicated solely for State Police “senior staff,” consisting of various personnel approved by the colonel.
    The letter states that at least one room was being used five days a week by one particular official and was being stocked with food and drinks from the academy that were purchased with grant funding intended to be used for training classes.
   The letter also alleges that one administrator used grant money to pay for overtime that wasn’t worked, while another used State Police vehicles to travel to meet women for extramarital affairs.
   In one case, an administrator was caught engaging in sexual intercourse inside State Police facilities after hours, according to the letter. That same administrator has been the subject of sexual harassment complaints and internal investigations, the letter states.
   The letter also alleges that a sergeant was caught stealing overtime from troopers under his command but was allowed to transfer because of a friendship with a high-ranking administrator.
   The letter alleges that senior staff members are not obligated to a specific schedule or to answer calls for service, allowing them to manipulate and falsify their hours. In one case, a top official put down six hours for working a sobriety checkpoint but was never present at the location, according to the letter.
   The whistleblower’s letter also describes a physical altercation at State Police Headquarters between two ranking officers that started over an extramarital affair. The two men were fighting over a woman, who also was a ranking member of the State Police and, apparently, was involved with both men, according to the letter.
   The letter also alleges that one official has been involved in three crashes with a department vehicle but none were officially documented.  On March 2, the Governor’s Office sent a memorandum to the State Police seeking information from Cahill and several other high-ranking administrators within the agency. The requested data included daily activity logs, duty logs, email messages and text messages from Feb. 13 to Feb. 28, according to the memo.
   The author of the letter withheld their name, citing fear of retaliation.
   A trooper who later was arrested on charges related to domestic violence has said, through his attorney, that he is being targeted by administrators of the organization who believe he is the whistleblower.
   Roger Adkins covers politics. He can be reached at 304-348-4814 or email radkins@hdmediallc.com. Follow @RadkinsWV on Twitter.