CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster has been a critically important part of the state’s disaster recovery efforts for nearly a decade, but multiple controversies now have the organization going in a new direction.

When the state was battered by historic flooding in 2016, West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, also known as WV VOAD, became a lifeline for people whose lives were turned upside down.

However, in the past few years the organization's been rocked by an employee's embezzlement of more than $870,000 and questions about the leadership of now-retiring executive director Jenny Gannaway.

Last month, former finance and operations manager Benjamin Cisco was sentenced to three and a half years in a federal prison. From spring of 2020 to late summer 2022, Cisco admitted to taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from WV VOAD through fake travel reimbursements, theft of donations and the purchase of gift cards for his personal use.

“Let me be very, very clear. I am not in any way condoning what I’ve done,” Cisco said. “I am not in any way justifying what I’ve done. You were there in the courtroom. You witnessed what I stood and said, and it's something I'm going to pay for. It's something I've stood for. It's something that I'm gonna go and I'm gonna spend my time and I'm gonna come out and I'm gonna right this wrong and I'm gonna make my life better, as well as my family's life.

“I'm not the Lone Ranger. I'm not the Mr. Ponzi that these court documents and everyone tries to make me out to be. That is not the case. I'm not sitting here and saying that I didn't do these things. I'm saying that I wasn't the only person that knew I was doing these things.”

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As Cisco's case was coming to a resolution, Gannaway appeared before the state's Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding, something she's done regularly over the past several years.

She was surprised when Putnam County Sen. Eric Tarr placed her under oath and asked questions about her spending and the destination of some donated items intended for disaster victims.

“Is it typical policy that for the donations that you have that you sell all those donations?” Tarr asked.

“It was, it was a large quantity of stuff and I had talked to Good360 and someone who worked there and they had given us permission to do that as long as the funds went into our disaster relief and was able to help clients that were affected by the flood,” Gannaway answered.

Tarr continued with his questioning.

“There was a conversation about selling off some of the stuff that was, if it was in inventory or not, but stuff that was donations apparently, I think it was from Good360 from what I could find out, Good360,” he said. “And in that conversation it was, I believe it was, it might have been you that suggested to sell all for a hundred dollars per a thousand dollars of value. Do you recall that?”

Gannaway said she recalled the conversation, but was not sure whether she was the one who made the statement.

Eyewitness News has obtained video and audio of the secretly recorded meeting that Tarr was referring to.

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Gannaway: So those real nice patio sets that’s over $2,000, wouldn’t you think $200?

Tyler Hager, WV VOAD employee: I would say. I’d just go $100 for every $1,000. You think? If it was me.

Gannaway: What do you think? Did you get the tile one?

Sara Hambrick, WV VOAD employee: No, I got the one everybody did.

Gannaway: That’s what I got. I like that.

Gannaway admitted during questioning with Tarr that she gifted fire pits valued at more than $600 that were donated through Good360 to several VOAD employees provided that they make a small donation, including her daughter.

Tarr: Is that fire pit at her house now?

Gannaway: No, it’s not.

Tarr: Where is it?

Gannaway: It has been donated.

Tarr: So was it donated before or after this information came to light?

Gannaway: Before

“A lot of the patio furniture and a lot of the fire pits never made it to any actual flood victim or, unless that occurred after I had left,” Cisco told Eyewitness.

Cisco alleges the furniture instead went to the homes of employees and friends and family of Gannaway.

Gannaway contends she did get permission from Good360, a nonprofit which acts as a middleman between corporations wanting to make donations and agencies which need them.

In the past few years, WV VOAD has been rocked by an employee's embezzlement of more than $870,000 and questions about the leadership of now-retiring executive director Jenny Gannaway. (WCHS)

She provided an email from August 2022 from then Good360's Director of Disaster Recovery Damian Morales that said in part:

"Good360 wholeheartedly approves of your decision to redistribute patio furniture and fire pits for a donation that in return helped disaster survivors in West Virginia. I understand that staff were included in the redistribution. Good360's mission is to provide the right goods to the right people at the right time, and we have the utmost confidence in your ability to identify how donated products can provide the greatest good."

Eyewitness News looked up the Good360 guidelines on donated items. On its website, Good360 said donated products may not be:

• Sold at thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales, on resale platforms or other internet sites.
• Given to another nonprofit organization or other entity, unless provided written permission by Good360.
• Used in conjunction with any fundraising activities, silent auctions, or as prizes.
• Given away in exchange for cash "donations."
• Bartered or otherwise transferred in exchange for money, property or services.
• Given to nonprofit board of directors, officers, directors, employees, or volunteers for personal use, reimbursement or as a thank you for their services.

In light of the Good360 guidelines and the email from Morales, WV VOAD's board of directors released the following statement on Jan. 30: "WVOAD values its partnership with Good360, which approved the donations at issue. There was no violation of Good360’s donation policy. We have documentation from representatives from Good 360 approving these procedures."

Eyewitness News contacted Good360 about the situation. The organization's vice president of compliance and member services, Monica Erwin, replied: "Good360 has completed its ongoing investigation into the inappropriate distribution of donated products. As a result of the investigation, we have decided to terminate our partnership with West Virginia VOAD."

When asked about Morales' employment status, Erwin said he no longer works at Good360.

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“First of all, I think it's terrible that we lose that support to West Virginia for emergency responses, but I understand why they would,” Tarr said. “In the flooding committee when I was questioning Miss Gannaway there were instances that seemed to be dishonest to me that related to what she was able to do with donations that came from Good360, which is nearly $2 million over a couple years to support people in West Virginia when they're in tragic situations."

Cisco's interview with Eyewitness News included referencing a WV VOAD investigation into many of the questions surrounding Gannaway raised by Tarr. In 2022, Gannaway was placed on a leave of absence by WV VOAD's board while the probe was conducted.

It was an independent counsel that looked into those allegations and I was cleared of any allegation,” Gannaway said.

Cisco claims just days after Gannaway's leave of absence was lifted she called a meeting of WV VOAD employees. He said the board had concerns about the co-mingling of federal funds, meaning workers being paid from one grant could not work on projects funded by other grants.

Below is a partial transcript of the meeting based on audio secretly recorded:

Gannaway: I can't tell you to go to her for questions, but if you do, I'm gonna ignore it, okay?

Adola Miller, WV VOAD Human Resources Specialist: None of this ever happened, okay?

Gannaway: I cannot tell you that and it is not in writing it will, I will swear I never said it. But if you guys need guidance, I'm not gonna say you can't talk to her. I'm not gonna tell her not to look in the files and the data and to make sure we're on track.

“I think the national VOAD has to take a good look at the evidence,” Cisco said. “I think the board of directors of West Virginia VOAD has to take a good look at the evidence and see what they see. And I think we all arrive at one conclusion. Again, but that's not my decision to make.”

At Tarr’s request, the West Virginia Legislature’s Commission on Special Investigations is looking into WV VOAD.

Eyewitness News has contacted the national branch of VOAD about the situation in West Virginia. No one has responded to our questions.

Gannaway has declined to comment several times about her retirement date and her role and practices within the organization.

Cisco is set to report to federal prison Wednesday to begin serving his 41-month sentence.