During a legislative interim committee meeting Monday, Delegate Dave Perry, D-Fayette, asked Military Affairs and Public Safety Secretary Joe Thornton what he knows about an FBI investigation involving the discovery of a bugging device earlier this summer in the air duct of the office of the Regional Jail Authority's chief of operations. Perry says the camera had both audio and visual capabilities. Thornton said he knows of no internal or external investigations and probably couldn't talk about them if he did. Perry asked Thornton if he had been in discussions with the office of Governor Earl Ray Tomblin about the bugging device, and Thornton replied, "When things come to light such as the way this has, discussions do occur, but I am not in discussions with any external agencies about any investigations internally, externally." Fayette County Senator Bill Laird asked Thornton to confirm if a bugging device was found in the ceiling of the Regional Jail Authority office, and Thornton said he wasn't there if and when it was removed, and he doesn't know anything specific about whether the individual actually found it in the ceiling tile.
