A Nov. 19 story by investigative reporter Dan Kane of the Raleigh News & Observer reports that six Dare County Commissioners have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury. The story noted the grand jury “recently obtained hundreds of records related to $50 million in state funds for dredging and affordable housing projects.”
The common denominator in those two projects is Jordan Hennessy, who is a top official at EJE Dredging, which owns the Miss Katie dredge working Dare County. He was also a principal of Coastal Affordable Housing LLC, which was the county’s affordable housing partner until the county terminated that relationship back in April.
Back in October, the U. S. Attorney’s office asked the Dare County Commissioners and Oregon Inlet Task Force to provide records for an ongoing federal probe related to, among other things, EJE Dredging and the Coastal Affordable Housing, LLC.
The subpoenas indicated the records should be produced between Oct. 16 and 18. In remarks at the Oct. 7 Dare Board of Commissioners meeting, County Manager Bobby Outten stated that the county and its officials are not “a target” of the investigation.
Dare County Public Information Officer Dorothy Hester has confirmed to the Voice that the commissioners who received the subpoenas to testify are Chairman Bob Woodard, Vice Chairman Wally Overman, Rob Ross, Danny Couch, Steve House and Ervin Bateman. Hester indicated that the subpoenas were received in recent days and some of them require appearances this week and others are for a period in mid-December.
The News & Observer story also notes that “the subpoenas don’t specify what the grand jury is seeking.”
Here is the News & Observer story: Federal grand jury summons six NC county commissioners for secret testimony
