QUANTICO, Va. — Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod J. Douglas has been awarded a national award for his investigations and community service last week at the FBI Academy.
Douglas won one of only two awards from the East Coast and his award was the first-ever award for a West Virginia U.S. attorney.
In June 2018, the FBI, along with the Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Inspector General and the Department of Justice began looking into the deaths of elderly veterans at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg.
In July 2020, Reta Mays, a former nursing assistant at the VA Medical Center, admitted to killing seven veterans and attempting to kill an eighth, with insulin injections. Mays was sentenced in May 2021 to seven consecutive life sentences plus 20 years.
Last year, Douglas was awarded a regional FBI Award for Investigative Excellence.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray sent a letter of commendation to Douglas for his work and, following the ceremony, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Pittsburgh Field Office Michael D. Nordwall presented Douglas with the letter.
Wray praised Douglas "for his outstanding performance as the lead prosecutor on numerous high-profile FBI investigations based in West Virginia."
Wray also called Douglas "a great credit to the Department of Justice" because of his "innovative prosecution strategies, grit, tenacity, aggressiveness, and deep legal knowledge."
Douglas was also recognized previously for his work in the Mays case during the Annual Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency Awards ceremony, also.
Douglas has been with the U.S. Attorney's Office since 2012. He initially served in the civil division of the U.S. Attorney's Office under the Attorney General's Honors Program and then was appointed to the position of assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Douglas prosecutes federal criminal matters that occur in the Eastern Panhandle.
Before working in the U.S. Attorney's Office, Douglas previously served as a law clerk for Chief Judge John Preston Bailey.
He is a 2009 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law, where he was a member of the Moot Court Board. He received his undergraduate degree from WVU and was a member of the Mountaineer football team. Douglas is also a 2002 graduate of Clay County High School and is the son of Kanawha County Family Court Judge Jim Douglas.
