HALLWOOD, Va.- Hallwood's town records were burnt in the town clerks car during a fire Saturday night.
Virginia State Police confirm a car was on fire on Wessells Farm Rd. in Hallwood Saturday night. That car was owned by Town Clerk, Angela Taylor.
Previous to the fire Taylor was being ordered to surrender all of the towns documents for an audit they were going to undergo this Tuesday, October 11th.
After the fire Saturday night, Taylor proceeded to resign from her position to a letter written to Hallwood Mayor Jackie Poulson.
In the letter Taylor writes, "As you may know, my car caught on fire on my way home from work Saturday night. I had loaded all of the town books, receipts, accts etc. into my car...because I had decided after Thursdays meeting to resign."
But, residents in town said they think this was more than just an accident. John Smith of Hallwood has lived there for nearly 40 years and said he's been suspicious of money disappearing.
Smith said, "It's all gone and just month to month all we do is live on just the basics."
Councilman Rich Selinsky said this audit was something he has been pushing for, for a while. He believed the council and the constituents should know where the towns money is going.
"Several issues kept coming up and one of them was these audits and I just said you know today is the day and why haven't we done it already and just kept pushing for it," Selinsky said.
In a recording WBOC obtained from a council meeting, you can hear Selinsky and Taylor speaking of the audit. In which, Taylor said she gave the books requested to the auditor. But, Selinsky told us she did not surrender all of the books.
Now, all that's left is a small box of papers, all of which the town said are meaningless.
"That's just what it is it's a tragedy here of the town. Where we've got to put our records back together and start over," Selinsky said.
Mayor Poulson said going forward they will keep all town records locked in their town building. He also said, Viriginia State Police will be investigating this case.
Town officials do not know where the car is at this time.
Angela Taylor declined to comment on the situation.
