Former Lynchburg community corrections director indicted; helped fugitive, lover flee

The former acting director of a Virginia corrections and pretrial services agency was indicted on nine counts Wednesday for conspiring with a supervisee to access protected information and later helping him flee the state.

Jennifer Leigh Peters, 42, of Madison Heights, is charged with conspiracy against the United States, accessing a protected computer without authorization, obstruction of a proceeding before a United States Agency, destruction of evidence and making false representations to an agency of the United States.

Brendon Cole Webber, 27, of Lynchburg, is charged with two counts of conspiracy against the United States and four counts of accessing a protected computer without authorization.

According to court documents, Peters had been employed by the Lynchburg Community Corrections and Pretrial Services since 2007. Peters supervised probation for pretrial criminal defendants and certain post-conviction defendants charged in Lynchburg General District Court. In 2023, Peters assumed the role of acting director of LCCPS, the most senior role in the office.

Beginning in 2022, Webber was on probation and, at times, was directly supervised by Peters. Sometime in 2023, while on probation and supervised by LCCPS, Peters and Webber began a romantic relationship. Peters did not report the relationship to her employer.

According to the indictment, around November 2023, Webber used Peter’s access to the Lynchburg Police Department’s records management system to run searches and review non-public, law enforcement material related to himself and his associates. This information was gathered by Webber and distributed to others.

In addition, Peters made certain entries into Webber’s official probation case file indicating that Webber had completed certain probation milestones and instructed a subordinate to sign a letter that was sent to the Lynchburg General District Court terminating Webber’s probation.

On Nov. 29, 2023, members of the Lynchburg Fire Department responded to an overdose at the Lynchburg Grand Hotel.

First responders observed a man, later identified as Webber, lying face down on a hotel room bathroom. Firefighters observed needles and a glass pipe in the room. When Lynchburg Police arrived, Webber fled the scene running from officers before being apprehended outside of the hotel. Later in the evening, officers searched the hotel room and recovered a bag containing suspected methamphetamine and a loaded Glock 38 handgun. Webber was subsequently charged with a state firearm offense.

Following the hotel incident, Peters made several false statements to a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force seeking to apprehend Webber. Peters then assisted Webber in fleeing Lynchburg by driving him out of state.

When questioned about the incident, Peters made several false statements to law enforcement regarding her relationship to Webber and her knowledge of his whereabouts.