The U.S. Attorney's Office has subpoenaed former and current employees of a Cross Lanes marketing firm to testify next month before a federal grand jury investigating a state employment programs official and her son, convicted felon Martin Bowling.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The U.S. Attorney's Office has subpoenaed former and current employees of a Cross Lanes marketing firm to testify next month before a federal grand jury investigating a state employment programs official and her son, convicted felon Martin Bowling, the Gazette has learned.
An FBI agent and state investigators hand-delivered the subpoenas earlier this week.
Past and present employees of Comar Inc. and its subsidiary, Vec3, are scheduled to testify before the grand jury on July 22 at the Robert C. Byrd U.S. District Courthouse in Charleston.
Comar CEO Albert Hendershot confirmed Tuesday that three employees received subpoenas. Two of the workers -- Rusty Felty and Kevin Mullins -- recently left the firm and returned to college.
A fourth former Comar employee also received a subpoena Monday.
"We've told everyone to fully cooperate and be as candid as possible," said Hendershot, whose firm also publishes MetroValley magazine. "We want to be open. We understand [federal prosecutors] are doing their due diligence."
Federal and state authorities are looking into whether Mary Jane Bowling, a state Workforce West Virginia office manager, improperly steered federal grant money that was ultimately used by Martin Bowling, former chief technical officer at Comar and Vec3.
The grant money also was used to pay consulting fees to Martin Bowling's fiancée, Mandi Felty, and Mary Jane Bowling's housemate, Christine Gardner, who runs West Virginia State University's Economic Development Center.
In April, Martin Bowling and Mandi Felty were assigned public defenders in federal court after filing financial affidavits, an action that usually means the defendants are targets or subjects of a grand jury investigation.
FBI agent James Lafferty and state Legislature Commission on Special Investigations agents Carl Hammons and Steven Staton are leading the Bowling investigation.
On May 7, they searched Gardner's house in Cross Lanes. Mary Jane Bowling lists the same address, records show. It's unclear whether the investigators seized any items from the house. Workforce West Virginia also is reviewing how the grant money was spent. The agency is expected to release a report next month.
"It all looks good," said Hendershot, who has reviewed a preliminary draft of the report and maintains the grant money was spent appropriately. "It was all fair and reasonable. I'll be happy when you get it."
A federal prosecutor declined to comment on the grand jury investigation Tuesday.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The U.S. Attorney's Office has subpoenaed former and current employees of a Cross Lanes marketing firm to testify next month before a federal grand jury investigating a state employment programs official and her son, convicted felon Martin Bowling, the Gazette has learned.
An FBI agent and state investigators hand-delivered the subpoenas earlier this week.
Past and present employees of Comar Inc. and its subsidiary, Vec3, are scheduled to testify before the grand jury on July 22 at the Robert C. Byrd U.S. District Courthouse in Charleston.
Comar CEO Albert Hendershot confirmed Tuesday that three employees received subpoenas. Two of the workers -- Rusty Felty and Kevin Mullins -- recently left the firm and returned to college.
A fourth former Comar employee also received a subpoena Monday.
"We've told everyone to fully cooperate and be as candid as possible," said Hendershot, whose firm also publishes MetroValley magazine. "We want to be open. We understand [federal prosecutors] are doing their due diligence."
Federal and state authorities are looking into whether Mary Jane Bowling, a state Workforce West Virginia office manager, improperly steered federal grant money that was ultimately used by Martin Bowling, former chief technical officer at Comar and Vec3.
The grant money also was used to pay consulting fees to Martin Bowling's fiancée, Mandi Felty, and Mary Jane Bowling's housemate, Christine Gardner, who runs West Virginia State University's Economic Development Center.
In April, Martin Bowling and Mandi Felty were assigned public defenders in federal court after filing financial affidavits, an action that usually means the defendants are targets or subjects of a grand jury investigation.
FBI agent James Lafferty and state Legislature Commission on Special Investigations agents Carl Hammons and Steven Staton are leading the Bowling investigation.
On May 7, they searched Gardner's house in Cross Lanes. Mary Jane Bowling lists the same address, records show. It's unclear whether the investigators seized any items from the house. Workforce West Virginia also is reviewing how the grant money was spent. The agency is expected to release a report next month.
"It all looks good," said Hendershot, who has reviewed a preliminary draft of the report and maintains the grant money was spent appropriately. "It was all fair and reasonable. I'll be happy when you get it."
A federal prosecutor declined to comment on the grand jury investigation Tuesday.
"I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation," said Booth Goodwin, chief of the economic crimes section at the U.S. Attorney's Office.
A spokeswoman with Workforce West Virginia -- formerly known as the Bureau of Employment Programs -- was unaware of any agency employees who received a subpoena this week.
"Even if an individual employee received one, it is our understanding that he or she is under no legal obligation to inform Workforce," said Jama Jarrett, public information specialist with the agency.
"However, if and when Workforce is notified, we will work to make sure those employees' are able to and have the time to attend the hearing."
In November 2008, Martin Bowling was convicted of computer fraud, after he admitted using stolen credit card information to purchase movie tickets, artwork, Cuban cigars and other merchandise over the Internet.
Kanawha Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey initially sentenced to three years in state prison, but reduced the sentence in April to five years of probation with a year of home confinement.
Last year, Mary Jane Bowling distributed a $100,000 federal grant to Comar, where Martin Bowling worked until he went to prison. Felty and Gardner received $5,000 each as Comar consultants on the grant.
In February, Mary Jane Bowling also sought a $1 million federal grant for Comar and West Virginia State's Economic Development Center. Workforce West Virginia eventually withdrew the application.
The Bowlings have repeatedly declined to comment on the investigations. Martin Bowling answered the phone at his house Tuesday, but said he was unavailable, then hung up.
Minutes later, Bowling posted a message on his Twitter.com account, saying "I love when people think that they are entitled to something, like that you don't have the right not to talk to them. ppl kill me :)."
Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4869.
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P.S. Eric....thanks for keeping this story alive!
Keep up your yeoman's work on this story.If Nixon can take a tumble in DF, who knows who could get thrown under the bus in WV.
Can you get your hands on the presentncing report on dear l'il Martin? I think it'd be important for the people to be informed about EXACTLY what was presented to the judge just before she ever so casually and compassionately directed him away from prison. It was my understanding there was a lot of 'stuff' to be found in the report. Maybe it was too heavy to open.