Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman the Ulster County District Attorney's Office has experienced a series of at least 11 departures since David Clegg took over as DA in January 2020. The latest departure was that of Katherine Van Loan, the county's chief assistant DA. Van Loan was hired in 1999 and most recently served as the office's second-in-command. Her resignation is effective August 1, according to a press release from Clegg's office. The majority of the resignations were by attorneys who served under former District Attorney Holley Carnright. One assistant DA hired by Clegg was fired a short time later, and a second hire, Marco Caviglia, is leaving on Sept. 1. Four of the former DAs have moved over to the Ulster County Public Defender's Office. In an email, Clegg said, "Each of the persons who have left since I started involved different circumstances which I am not at liberty to discuss," because, he said, he "cannot speak about personnel matters." Clegg said he is currently looking to fill two vacancies. Democrat Clegg, a civil rights attorney from Woodstock, succeeded Republican Carnright, who chose not to run for re-election in 2019, after serving three four-year terms. During the 18 months of Clegg's tenure, there have been a number of missteps by prosecutors. Clegg said his office struggled with the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown that led to backlogs in the courts, the demands of the state's new criminal justice reforms, and a hiring freeze that he said prevented him from filling key positions Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.