RICHMOND, Va. — The lead investigator into the probe of the Virginia Parole Board has been fired, according to an email from her attorney on Monday.
The Virginia Parole Board has come under fire for releasing convicted murderers early, including Debra Scribner. In 2012, Scribner was sentenced to over two decades in prison for her part in the plot to kill Eric Wynn.
Jennifer Moschetti investigated those complaints for the inspector general.
Earlier this year, someone leaked previously unseen pieces of her report. Days later, the Office of the Inspector General put Moschetti on administrative leave late last month.
State police also launched an investigation into who leaked the draft reports to the media. Moschetti has said she didn’t do it.
Governor Northam’s Chief of Staff Clark Mercer said Moschetti’s parole board investigation was biased and lacked objectivity.
After Moschetti was put on administrative leave her attorney, Tim Anderson, filed a whistleblower action with the Richmond Circuit Court with the purpose to stop termination. Moschetti didn’t have a hearing prior to her termination.
“As of today, the only government employee receiving any consequences in the parole board investigation is now the investigator herself,” Anderson said. “This is a very dark day in Virginia.”
ABC 13 reached out to Virginia State Police and the office of the inspector general to see if the state police investigation led to her termination.
Virginia State Police said their review is ongoing.
The inspector general would not comment citing that it’s a “personnel matter.”
State Senator Steve Newman, who has called for an investigation into the parole board, released this statement about Moschetti’s termination;
“Based on the comments of the Governor’s Chief of Staff last week, the independence of the OSIG has clearly been compromised. The Inspector General feared for his job and now a decorated employee who wrote the reports has been fired for telling the truth about misdeeds of the Parole Board. Given these facts, and the past interference by the administration, it is incredibly important at this time that the legislature hold a true independent investigation into these actions. The firing of a whistleblower is a serious decision and the people of Virginia deserve to know all the facts. Instead, this raises many more questions.”
