A former director of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority in Virginia has been indicted on federal charges of money laundering, wire and bank fraud and identity theft, authorities said Tuesday.

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       Jennifer R. McDonald, who left the agency in 2018, had previously been accused of embezzling $21 million — part of an ongoing scandal involving multiple lawsuits. The allegations rocked the Front Royal community, particularly after the local county sheriff who partnered with McDonald on some of those allegedly illegal property investments died by suicide in 2019.

       The 34-count federal indictment, which a grand jury delivered last week, echoed many of those earlier accusations, including allegations that McDonald used the agency’s funds to buy property in the name of limited liability companies she controlled and to pay debts owed by her, family members and friends.

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       She accomplished those feats — involving illegal wire transfers of as much as $2 million at a time — by falsifying invoices and forging signatures and other records in hopes of disguising the scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia alleged Tuesday.

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       McDonald, who in the past has maintained she is innocent, declined to comment Tuesday. Her attorney, Peter Greenspun, did not return a phone message.

       The grand jury delivered 16 counts of money laundering, 10 counts of bank fraud, seven counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft in the case.

       Part of the indictment focuses on an entity called DaBoyz LLC that McDonald launched with former Warren County Sheriff Daniel T. McEathron to buy land in the Front Royal area.

       McDonald allegedly used a bank account controlled by DaBoyz to launder more than $1 million, the indictment said.

       The various schemes and lost money sent the agency meant to foster economic development in the Shenandoah Valley area into a tailspin, with several civil lawsuits still pending.

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       One of the projects at the center of the scandal — a proposed data center on the site of a former toxic waste site — remains undeveloped, said Doug Parsons, who is now the development authority’s executive director.

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       Parsons said his agency’s board and the Warren County Board of Supervisors have implemented a host of safeguards to prevent any agency money from going missing again.

       Multiple officials must now sign off on all agency purchases, even if it’s a utility bill, he said.

       “I don’t even get the bank statements,” said Parsons. “That’s the way it should be. The executive director should never have any role in finances, whatsoever.”

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