Two former Berkeley County, W.Va. sheriff's office employees indicted in alleged $3 million conservatorship-account scheme

A federal grand jury in the Northern District of West Virginia returned a five-count indictment, announced June 18, 2026, charging Barbara Gail Gooden and Lisa Lee French, both of Martinsburg, with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud. Prosecutors allege that between 2007 and 2024 the two former sheriff's office employees embezzled cash payments and manipulated conservatorship and estate bank accounts administered by the office, misappropriating more than $3 million across more than 700 transactions and at least 59 conservator accounts.