Our Right to Know: Laura Mollo

She began by questioning the 911 system. Mollo contacted Tazewell County Sheriff Brian Hieatt in 2019, who explained that Richland, Virginia, residents couldn’t call 911 like other county residents. Instead, the local police force was charged with the city’s emergency medical services, meaning all 911 calls had to be transferred and information repeated.

“I know she didn’t like the fact that we would have to switch it over in the middle of the call,”  Heiatt said. “And then she went to the town council meetings, talked to town council people, and I know she went to talk to the police chief that was there at the time.”

There was a lot of resistance to change, and the city tried to discourage Mollo from digging by charging exorbitant amounts for her FOIA requests. This led her to spend over $5,000 on public records requests.

“I believe my town used the cost as a deterrent, but I’m a little bit of a point-prover,” Mollo said. “Whether it was an invoice for 7¢ or $70, every question that I asked, I got charged for.”

Then, Mollo found instances in the city budget where tax dollars were apparently misused.

“The former police chief had signed off on overtime that had not actually been worked and actually signed off on checks to people who didn’t even exist,” Mollo said.

According to an audit by UHY Advisors Tax and Business Consultants, 17 governmental employees had increased their overtime pay by 100% or more yearly from 2020 to 2022. Of the 17, five employees’ approval forms were not submitted or could not be located. For the other 12, UHY found multiple instances from 2021 to 2022 where forms didn’t follow protocols.

However, as Mollo kept digging, the more backlash she received.

“I was being followed,” she said. “There were Facebook pages made about a guy who would follow me through town.”

Eventually, her kids could not go out in town, and they would leave the city for family outings.

The stress took a toll on Mollo, but she would hide it in public.

“I would come home and cry because I felt like if they saw the toll it was taking on me, that they would win,” she said. “And they would get that satisfaction, and that’s how they would come after me harder.”

Still, she kept trying to find ways to fix the problem. According to Mollo, she visited local officials, county officials, state officials and the attorney general. They all told her to vote them out.

However, as Mollo kept requesting public records, the pieces began to fall. In 2021, the mayor resigned, citing a toxic work environment, and three city council members resigned in 2021-2022. Mollo then ran for Richland City Council and won.

Moreover, the remaining city council members from the previous election cycle and the city finance director resigned. Then, the police chief and the town manager were fired.

Now, the city has an entirely new council, including a new mayor, finance director, police chief and town manager.

The city’s forensic audit, which began in 2023, was completed in February 2024 after nearly a year.

“I posted it on Facebook and I didn’t really put an opinion to it,” Mollo said. “But you know, I came home, and I cried with my family. I cried with my husband, and I said, ‘This is it. I was right.’”