EDA Investigation, Part 5: Local businessman John Costello is interviewed by the FRPD

FRONT ROYAL – Those Royal Examiner readers and viewers who have been following the EDA Break-in Series will notice that this one – part 5 – does little to clarify facts or answer any questions for lead investigator Landin Waller.

After then-Executive Director Jennifer McDonald reported a break-in at the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority (EDA) office on May 18, 2017, detectives processed the scene, interviewing all subjects present, taking photographs, dusting surfaces for fingerprints, checking all doors and windows for signs of forced entry (there were no signs of forced entry, which were documented by photographs) and also questioning workers in adjacent offices and buildings within the Kendrick Lane campus.

McDonald was interviewed for about 90 minutes by Investigators Landin Waller and Crystal Cline, during which she cited a list of people whom she felt might be responsible for the alleged break-in, none of whom were ever established as substantive suspects by police. She also told the investigators that an EDA board member, Ron Llewellyn, had brought up the subject of files missing from her office.

Investigators found that interesting, as McDonald had previously reported that nothing was missing in the reported incident.

Officer Waller invited Llewellyn to have a conversation about the alleged missing files. Llewellyn’s interview was remarkable in several ways:

• Llewellyn states that he went to former Town Councilman and Vice-Mayor Shae Parker’s Hanna Signs business office after hours to pick up an order, and saw a group of people meeting there that included Parker, former Town Manager Mike Graham, former Town Mayor Stanley Brooks, former Town Councilman Tom Conkey and current Town Councilwoman Bébhinn Egger. Parker has stated to Royal Examiner that this meeting never occurred; Miss Egger stated that she has never even been in Parker’s place of business. Graham, Brooks and Conkey have also stated, on the record, that this meeting never occurred, at Parker’s shop or any other location.
• Llewellyn stated to Investigator Waller that the EDA board believed that some in the community weren’t supportive of McDonald, so they got together and voted as a group to give her a pay increase to “reaffirm” the board’s belief in her. Why, one might ask, would the board  of an agency funded, in part, with tax dollars give a raise because of the public’s displeasure with the employee’s performance?
• Llewellyn stated that Congressman Goodlatte called McDonald, stating “you’ve got to resolve this” because this reporter – then the WZRV radio station News Director – had called Goodlatte’s office inquiring about ITFederal’s ability to accomplish what the congressman had claimed in the way of financial investment ($40 million) and job creation (600-plus). Llewellyn states that McDonald called the station owner, at Goodlatte’s prompting. (Within days, perhaps coincidentally, I was fired May 13, 2016 by station owner Andrew Shearer by telephone, after completing the noon news and a daily talk show, with no reason provided.) WZRV news staffer Roger Bianchini’s inquiries to ITFederal officials on the same topic were abruptly shut down by Shearer later the same day.
• According to a letter from then-EDA board Chairman Greg Drescher, Llewellyn stated the Front Royal Police Department did not take the break-in “seriously” and that “it never hurts to have another set of eyes on something” regarding the hiring of a private investigator by the EDA on July 17, 2017. The EDA board by way of its chairman, Drescher, eventually requested FRPD to shut down its investigation in favor of the private one being conducted by the EDA/McDonald-contracted investigator.

As a board member Llewellyn seemed to have a good bit of information involving the EDA, its inner-workings, and even knowledge of Congressman Goodlatte, and how important it was for him to contain certain information regarding Truc “Curt” Tran and ITFederal. So when Llewellyn told Waller that that he had learned of the missing EDA files from local businessman John Costello at a meeting at the Element restaurant in Front Royal, Waller was anxious to interview Costello.

John Costello had plenty of information to unpack it seemed—just not about EDA files. He seemed genuinely confused when asked about knowledge of any events occurring at the EDA office. Asked about meeting Llewellyn at Element, Costello explained that they were both part of a group of friends who had enjoyed playing tennis over the years, before poorer health set in, and that the group mostly met for drinks once a week. But Costello said that he and Llewellyn had not regularly talked for some time, citing a falling out that occurred after he and a group of friends got together in 2009 to help Llewellyn save a financially-strapped business.

Costello explained to Detective Waller that despite investing heavily in their friend Llewellyn’s business, he was less-than a friend in return:

Front Royal Police Department detectives continued investigating the May, 2017 incident. As they worked the case, their next lead would have them call in local financial advisor Bret Hrbek, in July, 2017 for an interview. Next up in the series, Royal Examiner readers will witness a July, 2017 interview with Hrbek, as we explore the Front Royal Police Department’s exhaustive attempts to clear the case.