{"id":103770,"date":"2019-04-26T06:09:57","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T13:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=103770"},"modified":"2019-04-26T06:09:57","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T13:09:57","slug":"virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Economic Development Director Who Claimed She Was Big Casino Winner Was Big Loser, Embezzlement Probe Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Royal-Warren County, Virginia<\/a> economic development director who boasted to local press last year of winning over a million dollars on slot machines actually lost $753,207 from 2014 to 2018, according to records subpoenaed from the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Jennifer
Jennifer McDonald brandishes casino receipts detailing her slots winnings following an interview with The Royal Examiner<\/em> last year, but she was only telling half the story. (Image: Roger Bianchini\/Royal Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In February 2018, Jennifer McDonald gave an interview to The Royal Examiner<\/em> to \u201cclear the air\u201d after questions had been asked about her burgeoning real estate portfolio and how she had achieved it on a public sector salary.<\/p>\n

The secret was slot machines, McDonald assured a sceptical RE reporter, and her \u201clucky system,\u201d which involved taking winnings from penny slots and plowing them into the dollar machines.<\/p>\n

$17.6 Million Lawsuit<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The \u201csystem\u201d was hardly revolutionary, but successful enough to net her $800,000 in 2017 alone and over $500,000 for each of the previous two years, according to McDonald, who produced casino receipts to back up her claims.<\/p>\n

I have taken the money that I\u2019ve won and I have paid for the educations of my stepdaughter, two of my nieces and my stepson,\u201d she explained. \u201cI bought myself a truck; and the remaining I decided last year that I was going to start investing the money, rather than just letting it sit. So, I started to acquire investment properties.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

McDonald resigned as EDA director in December, a position she has held since 2008, and was subsequently named with nine others — including Warren County Sheriff Daniel McEathron — in $17.6 million EDA lawsuit that alleges embezzlement, fraudulent land deals, and the misappropriation of credit lines.<\/p>\n

The filing alleges that McDonald \u201cdoctored and \u201ccreated false documents”\u00a0and then made false entries in the EDA\u2019s books \u201cto conceal the diverted monies.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Always Wins<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Virginia State Police launched a criminal investigation in August, which is ongoing. Special Agent Eric Deel said this week that records provided by the Hollywood Casino show McDonald’s losses escalated from $38,752 in 2014, to $130,517 in 2015, $158,752 in 2016, $205,264 in 2017, and $219,920 in 2018.<\/p>\n

In 2017, McDonald was charged with a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report after she claimed a rock had been thrown through her window with a note attached that included the phone number of an EDA supervisor, Tom Sayre.<\/p>\n

Sayre has since filed a defamation lawsuit against McDonald relating to the incident. The suit alleges she was attempting to discredit and \u201cframe\u201d him because he was looking into a workforce housing project, which was the focus of McDonald\u2019s alleged embezzlement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Royal-Warren County, Virginia economic development director who boasted to local press last year of winning over a million dollars on slot machines actually lost $753,207 from 2014 to 2018, according to records subpoenaed from the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town. In February 2018, Jennifer McDonald gave an interview to The Royal Examiner to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":103772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVirginia EDA Director Jennifer McDonald Was Big Casino Loser<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Royal-Warren County, Virginia Economic Development Association Director Jennifer McDonald lost $753,207 gambling, despite boasts of winning millions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virginia EDA Director Jennifer McDonald Was Big Casino Loser\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Royal-Warren County, Virginia Economic Development Association Director Jennifer McDonald lost $753,207 gambling, despite boasts of winning millions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-26T13:09:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Jennifer-McDonald.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser\/\",\"name\":\"Virginia EDA Director Jennifer McDonald Was Big Casino Loser\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Jennifer-McDonald.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-26T13:09:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-26T13:09:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Former Royal-Warren County, Virginia Economic Development Association Director Jennifer McDonald lost $753,207 gambling, despite boasts of winning millions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/virginia-eda-director-jennifer-mcdonald-was-big-casino-loser\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Jennifer-McDonald.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Jennifer-McDonald.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Jennifer McDonald brandishes casino receipts detailing her slots winnings following an interview with the Royal Examiner last year, but she was only telling half the story. 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