October 29 — dbeard @dominionpost.com MORGANTOWN — The Dunbar School Foundation STOP Program — a COVID-19 program created to serve the African-American population of Marion and surrounding counties and funded by federal COVID funds channeled through the former Department of Health and Human Resources — is under investigation by the US Department of Justice.

The Foundation and former DSF STOP CEO Romelia Hodges were ordered to provide a series of documents to the DOJ by US Judge Michael Aloi. Hodges and STOP served the warrant at Hodges’ home address in Fairmont.

The request for information for the DOJ civil investigation relates to a False Claims Act investigation, in which Hodges and DSF STOP “made false claims, directly or indirectly, to the US government.”

The Dominion Post began investigating the DSF STOP in early 2023 and produced a series of stories in May and June. The former president of the foundation alerted The Dominion Post to the concerns he had about the program operating under his auspices. At the same time, DHHR – now the Department of Health – was also investigating.

The allegations, detailed in our series of stories, covered things like nepotism (Hodges’ husband and two children of the co-founder of DSF STOP were on the payroll), excessive executive salaries and bonuses, luxury vehicle rentals, potentially improper kickbacks from ATMs and potentially improper spending on travel and food.

The program operated on the basis of two state COVID grants, the first in the amount of $1.2 million and the second in the amount of $990,000.

The DOJ issued the civil investigation request in March, and a STOP representative was first notified on May 20. With no apparent response — the Dominion Post referred questions about it to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Savino — the DOJ then filed a motion to enforce the order. and Aloi acted in this regard on October 21. The order was sent on October 22.

The DOJ request runs to four pages and requires Hodges to submit the information within 20 days of receipt.

Among the requested items: monthly checking and savings statements and ledgers; credit card documentation; documentation regarding employee bonuses; rental / leasing payments; pay statements and time sheets; Facts about the COVID vaccine; a complete list of employees and job descriptions; repairs and alterations to the former Dunbar School cafeteria, which served as STOP headquarters.

The DOJ also requested the current locations for a list of items used by STOP, including: a vaccine cooler; a lawnmower; compartments for cabins; a portable refrigerator; two computers; a Dyson vacuum cleaner; four freezers; one 20×29 canopy tent and three 10×20 tents.

We reported at the end of May that the Dunbar School Foundation had given the DSF Stop until June 11 to pay the outstanding rent or vacate its premises. He was more than $11,000 in arrears. We then reported on June 2 that STOP had ceased operations, emptying and abandoning the building without notice.

The Dominion Post filed Freedom of Information Act requests in March with DHHR (now DH) and the Office of Inspector General regarding their investigations. The OIG denied the request because the investigation remains open. DH has regularly asked for deadline extensions to respond and told The Dominion Post on Tuesday that it expects to provide some material later this week.

Hodges did not respond to requests for comment.