1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Fawn E. Thomas, Public Affairs Specialist

 

February 26, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Martinsburg Resident Sentenced on Accessory & Retaliation Charges

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA — A 42 year old Martinsburg, West Virginia, resident was sentenced on February 23, 2009, in United States District Court in Martinsburg by Chief Judge John Preston Bailey.

United States Attorney Sharon L. Potter announced that DONNA NAYLOR was sentenced to 12 months and one day imprisonment to be followed by two years supervised release, pursuant to two earlier entered guilty pleas.

NAYLOR entered a plea of guilty on September 6, 2007, to Accessory After the Fact. NAYLOR was employed at the Internal Revenue Service Enterprise Computing Center in Kearneysville, and after a “urine-like” substance was poured all over the office cubicle of one of her co-employees, NAYLOR wrote a letter to the victim which was intended to mislead investigators and harass the victim.

NAYLOR entered a second plea of guilty on August 21, 2008, to retaliating against a witness/victim. This retaliation occurred in November of 2007 when NAYLOR wrote and mailed an anonymous letter to a witness/victim of a prior crime which had occurred at the Internal Revenue Service Enterprise Computing Center in Kearneysville, West Virginia. The letter contained threats of bodily injury to both the witness/victim and to her family, including young children. As part of the plea agreement, NAYLOR admitted to writing and/or mailing approximately fifteen (15) additional letters over a seven-month period to numerous individuals, most of whom were also employees of the Internal Revenue Service Enterprise Computing Center in Kearneysville. Some of these letters contained a falsified signature of the witness/victim, making it appear as if she had written the letters, rather than defendant NAYLOR. Many of the letters contained racial epithets and hand-drawn pictures of figures hanging in trees from nooses.

As part of her plea entered on September 6, 2007, NAYLOR resigned her position with the Internal Revenue Service in August 2008.

According to USA Potter, NAYLOR acknowledged her role in the offenses at the sentencing hearing. In accordance with the requirements of the plea agreement, NAYLOR further apologized to the victim against whom she had retaliated and to whom she had mailed several letters, most notably one which threatened the victim’s life and the life of her children; and the numerous co-workers and employees of the Internal Revenue Service Enterprise Computing Center to whom she had written and mailed letters, many of which contained the racial epithets and pictures of figures hanging in trees from nooses.

NAYLOR is free on bond and will self-report to a designated federal institution.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Erin K. Reisenweber. The investigation was conducted by the Office of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

 

 

---