In criminal investigation, grand jury seeks information on NC domestic violence program

A federal grand jury in Raleigh is seeking information about a domestic violence monitoring program that has drawn concerns over how state lawmakers set it up by providing $3.5 million in COVID-19 relief funds to a newly formed nonprofit in 2020.

Late last month, the N.C. Department of Public Safety received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of North Carolina to produce records related to Greenville-based nonprofit Caitlyn’s Courage and 15 other individuals or businesses that are identified as “relevant parties.”

“An official criminal investigation of a suspected felony is being conducted by an agency of the United States and a federal grand jury,” said the subpoena, dated June 26. FBI Special Agent Caleb Jobe in the Greenville office is listed as the point of contact.

The individuals identified in the subpoena as relevant parties include Jordan Hennessy and Marion Warren, who co-authored the legislation , according to legislative correspondence The N&O obtained for a news story on Feb. 3, 2021. The N&O reported then that the legislation atypically included specifications that a legislative attorney feared would exclude some businesses from competing for the monitoring work.

Grand juries are not open to the public. It’s their job to determine if enough evidence exists to indict a person or company. A relevant party is not necessarily the target of a grand jury investigation.

Who are the ‘relevant parties’ named in the subpoena?

Hennessy, 29, of Manteo, is a former legislative aide and Republican National Convention delegate who is a key figure in two businesses formed in recent years as state lawmakers released state budget money to help Dare County with dredging and affordable housing. He is a recent appointee to the state Coastal Resources Commission, which sets policy for coastal development.

Warren, 58, a Brunswick County Republican, is a former state assistant district attorney and district judge who later ran the state Administrative Office of the Courts under then Chief Supreme Court Justice Mark Martin. Warren is also a “member-manager” of the affordable housing company that includes Hennessy as a principal.

Last year, UNC-Wilmington hired Warren to be its legislative liaison and special assistant to the chancellor at a $213,200 annual salary.

Hennessy and Warren could not be reached for comment.

The other individuals are connected to Tarheel Monitoring , the Wilmington company that Caitlyn’s Courage paid to provide the monitoring. They are owner Larry Powell, his wife Sonja, Shawn David Sullivan and Lance Jeremy Cable.

At least five of the other companies listed in the subpoena are tied to Tarheel, including Securus Technologies , which manufactures the devices Tarheel deploys for the monitoring.

One of those companies is Monotec, which lists the same address as Tarheel, according to LexisNexis. Hennessy’s statements of economic interest filed with the State Ethics Commission show that last month he revised his reports for 2023 and 2024 to show a financial interest in Monotec.

He reported in the 2024 disclosure that Monotec is doing business with the state, providing electronic monitoring services for “high conflict cases ordered by a court order” from a judge.

Two companies that do not appear to be connected to Tarheel Monitoring are also listed in the subpoena. One is Pamlico Management Group, a business consulting company founded by Hennessy. The other is Juristrat, which lists Warren as a company official. Both companies have the same registering agent, Tonia Trest Twigg of Shallotte in Brunswick County. She filed organization papers for them on the same day, Oct. 23, 2020.

Not listed among the relevant parties are the state lawmakers identified as helping earmark public money for the monitoring program.

What is Caitlyn’s Courage, and how was it funded?

Caitlyn’s Courage was formed in 2019 by Beth and Judson Whitehurst of Pitt County. They lost their daughter Caitlyn to domestic violence when her ex-boyfriend killed her and then himself.

They sought to create a program that would provide tracking devices so that victims of domestic violence would know if their attackers were in the vicinity.

Then state Rep. Perrin Jones, who represented Pitt County, filed a bill in 2020 providing $100,000 for a pilot program. His bill never got a hearing in a legislative committee. But when lawmakers passed a massive COVID-19 relief bill later that session, they included $3.5 million for the nonprofit to launch the program in several judicial districts.

Jones , an anesthesiologist and a UNC-Chapel Hill trustee, did not respond to phone calls or a note delivered to the gated community in Charlotte he now calls home. Greenville attorney Les Robinson, a member of Caitlyn’s Courage’s board, also did not return phone calls to his cell or office.

The funding immediately drew questions from people who run programs to help domestic violence victims in North Carolina. The $3.5 million nearly rivaled the $4.8 million allocated annually to the state’s domestic violence centers fund.

The budget provision’s language included detailed qualifications that a legislative bill drafting attorney said could exclude electronic monitoring vendors from bidding. The nonprofit also gave potential bidders a short period of time to discover and respond to its bid request.

Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Forsyth County Republican who is a top budget writer in the House, was included in the legislative email correspondence for the funding. He told the N&O in 2021 he was not involved in the details. He referred questions to Jones.

“Sorry but I don’t always know what goes on from a member and the speaker’s office,” Lambeth said.

Tarheel Monitoring has two ties to House Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican who is now running for the 14th Congressional District. Sonja Powell, the chief financial officer and wife of Tarheel Monitoring’s owner, and Sullivan, the chief technology officer, each gave Moore’s reelection campaign $3,000 in June 2019.

State records also show Raleigh attorney Gene Davis, a close friend of Moore’s who shares legal clients with him, reported an ownership in an offshoot of the business in 2013 and 2014. Davis is a House-appointed member of the UNC Board of Governors.

Moore has not received any subpoenas or inquiries from federal authorities regarding Caitlyn’s Courage or any other matter, said Demi Dowdy, his communications director.

WBTV of Charlotte reported in April 2021 that billing records indicated Tarheel Monitoring was charging much more than the going rate for electronic monitoring.

Later that year, the state House’s budget proposal included a $27 million statewide expansion of the electronic monitoring program. Again, House budget writers did not identify who sought the provision. It did not end up in the final version of that year’s budget, but state lawmakers shifted the $3.5 million in annual funding from Caitlyn’s Courage to the state Criminal Justice Information Network .

The network is governed by a 21-member board that includes appointees from the governor and the legislature. The N&O was not able to reach Executive Director LaVonda Fowler for this story. The network’s most recent budget report said it has expanded use of the monitoring program and found that it is effective in protecting domestic violence victims.

The subpoena required the public safety department to return relevant records, including billings, correspondence and legislative requirements, to the grand jury by July 16, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Duffy granted the department a monthlong extension at the department’s request.

Duffy and Jobe could not be reached for comment.

Caitlyncourage Ausa Subpoena Dps by Dan Kane on Scribd

Power + Secrecy is a News & Observer investigative series exploring both in North Carolina state government, especially the the N.C. General Assembly since 2011, when Republican lawmakers won control of both chambers . Find all stories at www.newsobserver.com/topics/power-secrecy