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Grand jury being assembled to hear evidence against Anti-Gay Loudoun County Virginia Official

LEESBURG, VA -- A special prosecutor appointed to look into allegations of official misconduct by Loudoun County Virginia Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio has begun impaneling a grand jury to review evidence against the veteran Loudoun Supervisor as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

In a report published Tuesday by The Washington Post, potential jurors were convened Tuesday, February 5, in Loudoun County Circuit Court, where a judge told them that the grand jury was being assembled to look into allegations against Delgaudio.

Delgaudio, 58, has been the subject of a criminal investigation since November, when Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos (D) was appointed to review accusations that the Republican supervisor used county resources to benefit his political campaigns.

The investigation into Delgaudio was initiated after Donna Mateer, a former staffer, alleged that she spent the majority of her working hours early this year scheduling political fundraising meetings.

In her complaint to the Loudoun County’s human resources department last spring, Mateer also claimed that Delgaudio subjected his employees to a hostile working environment. After news of the investigation was made public, Delgaudio fired her.

Mateer collected extensive records from Delgaudio’s office, which included fundraising spreadsheets and e-mail correspondence related to her allegations. 

Mateer had turned over documents, including fundraising spreadsheets and e-mail records related to her allegations, to county officials, and, on several occasions, met with FBI agents regarding Delgaudio’s activities.

Delgaudio, who has publicly denounced gay people as “perverts” and “freaks,” has routinely injected himself into political battles across the country through his conservative nonprofit group, Public Advocate of The United States, that advocates against LGBT rights, and has been named as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Delgaudio, a four-term supervisor, served on the board’s Finance, Government Services and Operations Committee and the Transportation and Land Use Committee, but he was stripped of those assignments last month at the board’s first business meeting of the year. 

Delgaudio is also involved in a federal lawsuit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center against Public Advocate. The SPLC, which designated Public Advocate as a hate group last year, filed the lawsuit in September on behalf of a same-sex couple whose engagement photo was allegedly stolen from their wedding blog and widely distributed on anti-gay rights campaign mailers in Colorado.

The Post also reports that Charles King, Delgaudio’s attorney, declined to comment Tuesday. Delgaudio also did not respond to a request for comment.