The Royal Examiner<\/em> last year, but she was only telling half the story. (Image: Roger Bianchini\/Royal Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn 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>\nThe 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>\nThe \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>\nVirginia 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":"\n
Virginia EDA Director Jennifer McDonald Was Big Casino Loser<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n