Whistleblower who reported prosecutors' wife-hiring scheme wins $1.8M jury award
The former staffer who reported three years ago that then-Person County District Attorney Wallace Bradsher had hired a colleague's wife for a no-show job has won a $1.8 million jury award under North Carolina's whistleblower law.
Jurors agreed Wednesday, after a seven-day trial, that Debra Halbrook was wrongly fired in January 2017 after she supplied information to the State Bureau of Investigation about a scheme between Bradsher and then-Rockingham County District Attorney Craig Blitzer to hire each other's wives to get around state ethics rules.
Both prosecutors resigned amid the investigation.
Last year, Bradsher was disbarred and served five months behind bars after being found guilty of obtaining property by false pretense, aiding and abetting obtaining property by false pretense, obstruction of justice and failure to discharge the duties of his office.
Blitzer, who had earlier pleaded guilty in the case, testified during Bradsher's trial that the two agreed in early 2015 to hire each other's wives and that Bradsher encouraged Cindy Blitzer to focus on her classes as she worked to complete her nursing degree.
Cindy Blitzer said Bradsher was aware that she wasn't doing any work for months but was still getting paid. Bradsher, who represented himself during the criminal trial, called the lack of oversight "an administrative failure" that didn't rise to the level of a crime.
Bradsher’s wife did the work she was paid for in Craig Blitzer’s office, according to state investigators.
Craig Blitzer also testified about the scheme in Halbrook's whistleblower trial, while Bradsher invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
"More than three years ago, Debbie Halbrook stood up for all of us when she reported Wallace Bradsher’s crimes. He fired her for reporting those crimes, and it has been a long, hard road to get justice for her," Halbrook's attorneys said in a statement. "A Wake County jury delivered that justice for Debbie. She is gratified by the jury’s verdict, but she is most gratified by the fact that the justice system worked.
"North Carolina’s whistleblower law protects the brave public servants who risk everything to come forward and report government wrongdoing," the statement said. "[The] verdict sends a message that these brave whistleblowers will be protected."
