Friday, November 11, 2011

Sheriff Anthony accused of wanton endangerment

The man charged with enforcing the law in Mason County has found himself on the wrong side of it this morning.

Sheriff David Anthony has been arrested and charged with wanton endangerment, according to WCHS-TV 8/WVAH-FOX 11.  Troopers from the West Virginia State Police Detachment in Winfield arrested Anthony, 42, and booked him into the Western Regional Jail in Barboursville about 1:30 a.m. 

According to the Regional Jail's Web site, Anthony was still incarrcerated at 9:50 a.m.

Despite most government offices being closed for the Veterans Day holiday, Anthony was expected to be arraigned by a magistrate later today.  Because of the closure, no other information is available about his arrest.

A former Mason County deputy sheriff, Anthony, a Democrat, is in his first term as sheriff.  In 2008, he defeated Point Pleasant Police Chief, and Earnie Watterson, a Republican who previously served as sheriff in the early 1990s, to succeed Scott Simms, who was barred from running again due to already serving two terms.

Aside from the criminal charges, Anthony is also accused of improperly firing Deputy Robert Glenn in March after he, while working as school resource officer at Hannan High School, made an inappropriate comment about a T-shirt worn by Kelsey Williams.

After the county Civil Service Commission upheld Anthony's decision in May, Glenn appealed to Mason Circuit Court.  In his appeal, Glenn argues Anthony did not provide him a pre-disciplinary hearing as required by state law.

A month after Glen filed his appeal to circuit court, the state Supreme Court reversed a Jefferson Circuit judge's ruling upholding that county's civil service commission's decision affirming the firing of a deputy sheriff.  In its ruling, the Court said Sheriff Robert Shirley should have granted Sgt. Michael T. Dodson a pre-disciplinary hearing before firing him in 2009. 

A hearing on Glen's appeal is scheduled Mon. Dec. 12 before Judge Thomas C. Evans III.


Paths of Glory- Final Scene