MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – There’s now a federal investigation into how millions of dollars in flood relief money were spent in the Mountain State after 2016’s devastating floods.
U-S Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia Mike Stuart confirmed in a press release that his office is cooperating with a federal investigation into possible diversion, fraud, or corruption by some officials entrusted with handling flood relief money.
Berkeley County business owner Travis Bishop spearheaded an effort to get seven truckloads of supplies and hundreds of volunteers on the ground in the flood-ravaged areas of southern West Virginia in the weeks following the historic flooding.
“Seven trailers loaded to the ceiling. I mean we packed the doors where you opened the door and it kind of exploded with stuff it was so full.”
Bishop says they rolled into Clendenin and worked in four inches of mud on muggy 100 plus degree days to get people back on their feet and holding out hope that when federal dollars came in the townsfolk would be made whole.
“We did our part to get these people what they needed as much as we could to get to the next point,” said Bishop. “Get back to their house again, get back to home life. Here we are three years later and we still have many, many, many, many southern West Virginia people that never got a dime or never really got the true help that they deserved with the money that was allocated and then stolen by these people that were elected.”
Bishop was a guest on Wednesday’s Panhandle Live heard on WEPM & WCST weekdays at 9:06.