Virginia mental health director engaged in misconduct, inspector general finds

Now to a Fox 5 exclusive. Misconduct allegations tonight against the doctor in charge of a Northern Virginia mental health institute. The facility housed a killer who was able to escape the country on a weekend pass. Fox 5's chief legal correspondent, Katie Barlow, live in Fairfax tonight on top of this story since she broke it months ago. Katie. Well, State Inspector General report says that Dr. Asher Barron with the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute engaged in misconduct, including manipulating patient-related files. Now, those patients have been found not guilty by reason of insanity in criminal cases, including cases where the patient killed someone. The report also shows that Dr. Barron has been the subject of HR complaints and disciplinary actions. In 2023, Virginia's inspector general requested an investigation into Barron after two separate whistleblower calls to the waste fraud and abuse hotline. In one complaint, Barron was accused of interfering with clinical teams deciding when to grant privileges to a patient. She's accused of causing, quote, excessive delays. The report says Barron, quote, was responsible for putting patient care at risk by delaying feedback and communication with the treatment team. Investigators found evidence she was manipulating risk management. plans for patients. They also found evidence that she would bypass clinical teams by speaking directly with patients, therefore, quote, eroding their trust and rapport with the patients. Those allegations have been corroborated by multiple individuals who worked with Barron and have spoken to Fox 5. The report confirms that she engaged in, quote, unsatisfactory leadership and that multiple disciplinary actions were taken internally. Abdulloy Tashpulidzoda killed his landlord in 2019. He was found not guilty by reason of Insanity, Barron approved unescorted community visits that allowed him to hop a one-way flight to Tajikistan in July. Barron also approved community privileges for Kashif Bashir, a man who was found not guilty by reason of insanity when he shot a police officer in 2013, then set his NGRI coordinator's house on fire in 2019 when he was granted privileges. The idea that a physician who has taken an oath and has a license issued by the state Would engage in this kind of behavior is disappointing, is unethical, and more importantly, is grounds to have their license suspended because they're putting both patients at risk and, in this case, the general public by in any way altering medical records. One time is an outlier, two is a coincidence, three is a pattern. At the end of the day, there's something going on here that needs to be looked at. Fairfax Commonwealth's attorney Steve Descano says he relies on Barron's and others decision making in these types of cases despite those red flags. Now we followed up today with these new details in this report. A spokesperson for his office said that allegations that any expert is unable to accurately and fairly evaluate the mental health of criminal defendants should be fully investigated by certifying entities. We also followed up with the Department of Behavioral Health who confirmed that Dr. Barron is still employed with them. And that the OIG report investigated both substantiated and unsubstantiated allegations made against the doctor and appropriate actions were taken. Kenneth.