ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 TAG: 9606200075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ABINGDON
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Gerald Griswold, executive director of the New River Valley/Mount Rogers Private Industry Council for more than a decade, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy and fraud.
He has pleaded innocent to the charges, which claim that he accepted $15,000 in January 1991, in exchange for choosing a certain agency for a $50,000 Job Training Partnership Act project.
His trial was scheduled to start July18 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon, but the defense is seeking a postponement.
Griswold also was president of Administration, Training & Services Inc., a private company that had acted as administrative agent for the Private Industry Council since its formation in 1983.
The Private Industry Council handles programs, usually funded with federal money, to provide jobs for unemployed and underemployed people in the region it serves. That region covers Washington, Smyth, Bland, Giles, Montgomery, Floyd, Carroll, Grayson, Wythe and Pulaski counties and the cities of Bristol, Galax and Radford.
Griswold has been on administrative leave since his indictment last month. His contract with the Private Industry Council expires at the end of this month. Ronnie Martin, area training coordinator and vice chairman of the council, is now its acting director and has also been hired as its permanent director starting July 1.
LENGTH: Short : 37 linesby CNB