Zachary T. Lee Acting United States Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia
The former acting director of the Lynchburg Community Corrections & Pretrial Services Department (LCCPS), Jennifer Peters, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison. Peters, 43, from Madison Heights, Virginia, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy, obstruction of a proceeding before a United States Agency, making false representations, and destruction of evidence.
Court documents indicate that in 2022 Peters supervised Brendon Cole Webber as part of her role at LCCPS. In 2023, she became Acting Director and began a romantic relationship with Webber while still involved in his probation supervision. Peters had access to confidential law enforcement materials through the Lynchburg Police Department’s Records Management System (RMS), a protected computer system.
Between November 11, 2023, and January 9, 2024, Peters provided Webber unauthorized access to non-public information from the RMS. Webber then shared this confidential material with others.
On November 30, 2023, authorities charged Webber with unlawfully possessing a firearm under Virginia law and issued a warrant for his arrest. Both Peters and Webber were aware of the active warrant and an ongoing U.S. Marshal’s fugitive manhunt.
In December 2023, at Webber's instruction, Peters drove him from Lynchburg, Virginia to Hughestown, Pennsylvania to obstruct efforts by U.S. Marshals to apprehend him. During this time she also booked a hotel room for them.
When questioned by federal law enforcement about her relationship with Webber, Peters made several false statements. She denied having recent physical contact with him and claimed not to know his whereabouts or phone number. She also told investigators she did not know where her own cell phone was when she had given it to a friend to keep it away from authorities. After being interviewed by law enforcement officials, Peters retrieved her phone and disposed of it in a local landfill in an attempt to destroy evidence.
Webber was arrested in Hughestown on January 9, 2024. He later pleaded guilty to state charges including conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice as well as unlawful possession of a firearm; he received a sentence of 57 months incarceration.
"Robert N. Tracci, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia," announced the sentencing along with Ian Kauffman, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and City of Lynchburg Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Vito Iaia prosecuted it.
