RSW superintendent explains McDonald transfer to Fairfax jail

Jennifer McDonald may find her experience of incarceration more normalized by her move out of RSW Regional Jail to Fairfax County where she is not so high-profiled an inmate. Courtesy Photo RSW Jail

On Friday, Rappahannock-Shenandoah-Warren County Regional Jail Superintendent Russ Gilkison confirmed the transfer of high-profile inmate Jennifer McDonald to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center four days earlier, on Tuesday, June 11. McDonald was arrested by Virginia State Police on May 24 on four felony fraud-embezzlement charges related to the financial investigation of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority.

The former EDA executive director has twice since been denied bond, being deemed a flight risk by Judge Clifford L. Athey Jr. After 10 years heading the EDA, McDonald resigned under increased financial scrutiny from her board of directors on December 20, 2018. According to EDA officials in her resignation email she admitted liability for the return of $2.7 million in assets to the EDA. However subsequent EDA civil litigation filed March 26 now seeking recovery of $21.1 million dollars alleges McDonald’s role in the loss of much more than her admitted liability.

Gilkison said the move was made to normalize McDonald’s jail experience.

“This will allow her to get into the general inmate population. She’s been in protective custody here due to the high-profile nature of her case,” Gilkison told Royal Examiner of the isolated nature of McDonald’s confinement so far.

RSW Jail is one inmate down – but could it soon house additional defendants related to the EDA financial investigation? Stay tuned… Royal Examiner File Photo/Roger Bianchini

The RSW superintendent said he had been in touch with McDonald’s criminal attorney Peter Greenspun for about a week prior to the move. Gilkison said the Fairfax City-based Greenspun supported the move and is now in much more convenient proximity to his client while she is incarcerated.

A hearing in which McDonald is slated to enter pleas in her criminal cases is scheduled for July 17 in Warren County Circuit Court.

Asked about costs to RSW of McDonald’s move to another facility, Gilkison said the Fairfax jail is not charging RSW for the transfer.

“It’s called a courtesy hold and we all do it for each other,” Gilkison said of the transfer of inmates for various reasons between area jails. “We would pay for any medication or medical costs but they aren’t charging us to house her.”

Asked if the move could indicate coming arrests of alleged co-conspirators in the EDA financial scandal that has shaken this community, Gilkison said only that he had heard the same rumors that many have about sealed special grand jury indictments, adding, “but not from reliable sources.”