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RICHMOND––The Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries
board of directors on May 24, 2005 fired William L. Woodfin, the department
chief since 1994.
Board chair Dan Hoffler resigned in March. Both departures came in response
to an investigation by Virginia state auditor Merritt Cogswell, whose
52-page report “described an agency rife with free-spending top
officials and cronyism,” wrote Louis Hansen and Lee Tolliver of
the Virginian-Pilot.
“In painstaking detail,” Hansen and Tolliver reported, “the
audit substantiated 24 of 29 specific allegations brought against the
agency by whistle-blowers.”
Among other abuses, Hoffler allegedly used 131 hours of staff time worth
$4,200 to have video of his 2003 hunting safari to Africa edited into
a DVD. Hoffler paid $500 for the work.
Woodfin and two senior game wardens used $11,500 in state funds on equipment
used to accompany Hoffler to Africa. Hoffler paid most of their other
expenses.
“The auditor found many unnecessary purchases labeled for ‘field
testing,’” Hansen and Toliver wrote. “For example,”
three senior game wardens “spent $5,200 to purchase 42 knives in
a nine-month period, supposedly to determine which knife was best for
game wardens.”
Retired State Police Superintendent Col. W. Gerald Massengill was appointed
acting director of the department, with a mandate to further investigate
the many alleged improprieties.
