CHARLESTON -- A former regional director for the state jail authority recently pleaded guilty to witness tampering, and a former parole officer has been charged with sexual assault of at least two of his parolees.
Four federal lawsuits have been filed in relation to the incidents.
According to court documents, David Jones admitted he deliberately withheld information and lied to state and federal investigators during their investigations of sexual misconduct reportedly committed by parole officer Anthony DeMetro. Jones, who was the regional director of parole services for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Parkersburg, was DeMetro’s supervisor.
Jones also admitted, on multiple occasions from 2020 to this year, he repeatedly instructed a witness in the same investigation to lie to federal investigators and to destroy and withhold evidence. Specifically, Jones said he encouraged the witness to delete recordings she had of the parole officer and he instructed the witness to delete evidence of his own communications with her.
Jones faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. A sentencing date has been set for January 19, 2023.
DeMetro, 44, was arrested last month and charged with civil rights violations, obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators. The seven-count indictment includes five counts of acting under color of law to deprive individuals of their civil rights, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of false statements to federal investigators.
The indictment says DeMetro sexually assaulted two victims on a total of five separate occasions. The indictment also says he lied to a state investigator and to federal investigators about his sexual misconduct.
If convicted, DeMetro faces maximum penalties of life imprisonment on three of the civil rights counts, 20 years on the obstruction of justice count, five years on the false statements count and one year on each of the remaining civil rights counts.
The four civil lawsuits filed September 29 in federal court name DeMetro, the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Parole Services Supervisor Matthew Currence. Currence was Jones’ supervisor.
“The facts of this case, specifically the conduct by these state supervisors is outrageous,” L. Dante diTrapano, one of the attorneys representing the women in the four civil lawsuits, told The West Virginia Record. “Officer DeMetro sexually assaulting four women under is authority and control is sick enough, but consider that once the first victim reported the conduct to his supervisor, the supervisor went on a criminal rampage of destroying evidence, lying to the FBI, obstructing an investigation and intimidating the victims.
“They should all go straight to jail.”
According to Jones’ Stipulation of Facts filed October 6 with his guilty plea, Jones says one of the parolees told him she had been sexually assaulted by DeMetro and asked for his help. Jones says he didn’t assign the woman a new parole officer and that he encouraged her to delete recordings she had made of DeMetro sexually harassing her. He said he did so to protect DeMetro from being disciplined. Jones states that he also failed to report damage DeMetro caused to the parolee’s workplace.
He also states that a second parolee made similar allegations against DeMetro to him and that he could have prevented that incident if he had reported the earlier one.
Jones also admits he made false statements and deliberately withheld information from a WVDCR investigator and a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations about DeMetro’s actions. He also says he told the first parolee to withhold information from the FBI when it began investigating DeMetro.
“I went to Witness 1’s workplace and instructed her to tell the FBI that Parole Officer 1 had been only ‘flirty’ with her,” the stipulation of facts states. “I did so even though I knew that Parole Officer 1’s comments were more than flirty.”
According to the civil lawsuits, DeMetro sexually assaulted the four female plaintiffs who are identified only by their initials.
“Officer DeMetro abused his position of power and authority over plaintiff and exploited opportunities that were provided by his supervisor’s indifference to the safety of plaintiff and other victims,” the complaints state.
The complaints allege DeMetro used home checks as an opportunity to harass and assault female parolees. That included using sexually explicit language, commenting about the women’s bodies and his desire to have sex with them.
One complaint details how DeMetro allegedly searched the woman’s underwear drawer before forcing her to perform oral sex on him.
Another complaint alleges DeMetro asked if he couldhold the urine cup for a parolee while she submitted to a routine urine drug screening. The same woman says DeMetro’s actions and threats caused her to have a nervous breakdown requiring hospitalization.
A third complaint claims DeMetro found drug paraphernalia in another woman’s underwear drawer. When he made her go outside and destroy the glass pipe, he said she needed to repay him for his leniency with sexual favors. It says he later forced her to perform oral sex on him.
The fourth complaint says DeMetro demanded oral sex and sexual intercourse during his twice monthly home checks, including once when her young son was in the house.
All of the civil complaints accuse DeMetro of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violating the women’s Eight Amendment right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment and 14th Amendment right to due process. They also accuse all defendants of gross negligence and/or recklessness, and they list the WVDCR and Currence in a claim for outrage.
The complaints say the WVDCR had received previous complaints about DeMetro but declined to investigate “because of the victims’ histories of substance abuse.”
The women say they have suffered physically and mentally, incurred medical expenses, been deprived of the enjoyment of life and other damages. They seek joint and several compensatory damages as well as punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The plaintiffs are being represented by diTrapano and Amanda Davis of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston and by William C. Forbes and W. Jesse Forbes of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case numbers 2:22-cv-00421, 22-cv-00422, 22-cv-00423 and 22-cv-00424
