The Logan Banner said Tuesday in a brief story that it has received reports from time to time to the effect that federal agents are investigating, but stated only that a source inside the Mingo County Court House had confirmed the latest reports.
Managing Editor Mich-ael Browning reported, “There have been reports since the 2004 flood called in to The Logan Banner, saying that FEMA flood money was misused.”
He added it was not known if the federal agents are investigating such allegations since the latest reports are unconfirmed.
The Daily News contacted Mingo County Sheriff Lonnie Hannah to learn if he had any information about a federal investigation.
His only response was, “I can’t comment on whether there is an investigation or not.”
Mingo County Commis-sioner Greg K. “Hootie” Smith told the Williamson Daily News he knows nothing new in progress (in this county) by federal officers.
Smith noted that the county commission had turned over all of its records to the Federal Bureau of Investigation many months ago.
“It has been over a year now since the federal investigators returned to us all of our original records, which included invoices and bank documents related to the 2004 flood in our area,” said Smith. He added that nothing further had been heard from the federal level.
“The Mingo County Commission has nothing to hide regarding the 2004 or the 2009 floods,” Smith declared. “In my opinion, all investigations have been political in nature.”
The Daily News contacted several sources in efforts to shed some light on the latest rumors in circulation. Calls to the Charleston and Pittsburgh offices of the FBI failed to produce any information or comments. A spokesman for the Pittsburgh office said nothing is transmitted by voice mail concerning public matters.
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