Statement on Indictment of Former Martinsville Fire & EMS Assistant Chief Russell
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – This document serves as the only official statement from the City of Martinsville administration in regard to the termination of employment of Fire & EMS Assistant Chief John W. “Jay” Russell, Jr. In addition to serving as the supervisor in charge of “A Shift”, he was also in charge of managing the time records for all employees of the Fire & EMS Department. Russell began his employment with the City of Martinsville in December 1993.
The summary of events is as follows:
Discrepancies in Mr. Russell’s own time records were discovered in early June 2009. A preliminary investigation was conducted by internal Fire & EMS administration, treating the issue as a personnel matter.
After reviewing the evidence in the initial personnel investigation, Martinsville Fire & EMS administration terminated employment of Assistant Chief Russell on June 30, 2009.
Additional discrepancies were discovered in the preliminary investigation and the findings were brought to the attention of Martinsville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joan Ziglar in late June 2009.
Following professional protocol to ensure an unbiased investigation the decision was made to contact the Virginia State Police to conduct an independent investigation. The Martinsville Circuit Court appointed Petra Haskins from Mecklenburg County, Va. to assist in the investigation; functioning as the special prosecutor.
Virginia State Police conducted a thorough criminal investigation; findings were reviewed with the special prosecutor.
The information and evidence gathered in the investigation was presented to a grand jury for deliberation on Monday, February 8, 2010.
The grand jury issued indictments for the following charges, which are all felonies, on February 8, 2010:
Grand Larceny
Embezzlement
Obtain Money by False Pretense
Misappropriation of Public Funds
In order to safeguard against a similar incident occurring in the future the Martinsville Fire & EMS Department has instituted changes in their policy regarding how hours worked must be logged for all employees of the department.
