$20,000 bond set for Poe; 10:30 a.m. hearing set for other 3 defendants

Donald Poe

Some legal frustration was apparent Monday morning during an 8:45 a.m. video bond hearing related to the four EDA financial scandal arrests on Friday. That frustration was most apparent in Jennifer McDonald attorney Peter Greenspun, who had driven here from Fairfax, following Judge Bruce D. Albertson’s ruling on the bond request by Donald F. Poe’s attorney William Ashwell.

Albertson granted a $20,000 unsecured bond to Poe on the one new charge he was arrested on Friday, August 23. Albertson set a $20,000 secured bond for Poe on three earlier charges on July 31, the same day he granted a $50,000 secured bond to McDonald. Poe had been jailed a week, McDonald for two months at the time.

Poe was present in court for the 8:45 a.m. video hearing with the Harrisonburg-based Albertson who was preparing for his own court docket. About 11 Poe family members, including son Jason, were present for the hearing.

The Fairfax-based Greenspun bemoaned the pattern of Friday afternoon indictments stemming from the EDA Special Grand Jury investigation into potential criminality tied to the EDA civil litigation seeking the return of approximately $20 million in alleged embezzled or misdirected EDA assets. He was also frustrated that his client did not have a bond hearing on the Warren County Circuit Court docket to coincide with Poe’s.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Layton told Judge Albertson that in addition to the single new charge against Poe, there were multiple new charges against McDonald that primarily related to previous charges against her.

Jennifer McDonald

However, there was reference to one new charge the prosecution indicated the potential of money “being siphoned off” that could impact an increased risk of flight by defendant McDonald.

Albertson acquiesced to Greenspun’s request for a bond ruling prior to the defense attorney’s planned trip out of country on Thursday.

“It won’t be pretty,” the judge said in setting a 10:30 a.m. continuation of the bond hearing for McDonald. Albertson acknowledged that Warren County Circuit Court Judge William Sharp also had a docket Monday morning – but that he would do what he could to accommodate the defense requests for a ruling today.

McDonald’s husband Sammy North’s attorney Frank Reynolds also asked that his client be considered for bond at that time. It was not clear whether the fourth person arrested Friday, former B&G Goods principal William Lambert yet had counsel to represent him at 10:30 a.m.