
The West Virginia Water Development Authority building, on Bullitt Street in Charleston, where police searched for listening devices this week as part of a feud among employees at the agency.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The director of a state agency that manages water projects in West Virginia ordered a wiretapping sweep of the office last week amid allegations of ethics violations, secret recordings, restroom vandalism and a problem with feral cats.
Charleston police conducted the search for hidden listening devices at the West Virginia Water Development Authority building on Bullitt Street near Fazio’s Italian Restaurant. No wiretaps were found, according to agency employees.
Lt. Steve Cooper, the Charleston Police Department’s chief of detectives, declined to comment on the specifics of the sweep “due to the potential of it becoming a criminal investigation.”
“I was notified by an official with the West Virginia Water Development Authority that there may be wiretapping going on,” Cooper said.
The sweep follows a contentious yearlong feud between the agency’s GIS manager, Michael Duminiak, and Water Development Authority Executive Director Chris Jarrett and Executive Assistant Carol Cummings, according to emails obtained by the Gazette-Mail.
Dueling accusations have thrust the agency into turmoil…