{"id":5288,"date":"2014-08-05T14:35:47","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T21:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5288"},"modified":"2014-08-06T19:17:25","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T02:17:25","slug":"violation-public-trust-fbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5288","title":{"rendered":"Violation of Public Trust: FBI"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Federal<\/a>FBI NEWS<\/strong>\u00a0REPORT<\/strong>– \u00a0In the run-up to the 2012 primary elections in Mingo County, West Virginia, a group of officials adopted a campaign slogan: Team Mingo.<\/p>\n

But the judge, sheriff, and county prosecuting attorney who were part of the alliance\u2014among the most powerful men in the local judicial system\u2014used their authority to serve their own interests rather than those of the citizens who elected them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese men essentially ran the county\u2019s legal system,\u201d said Special Agent Jim Lafferty, who investigated the case out of our Pittsburgh Field Office. The ringleader was Circuit Court Judge Michael Thornsbury. \u201c<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The judge and his team were the power in Mingo County,\u201d Lafferty explained. \u201cThey didn\u2019t like anyone who tried to oppose them. If you were an attorney or an individual who wanted to get a fair shake in the court system, you had to play whatever game they wanted you to play. It was a toxic environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Case Opened on Officials<\/strong><\/p>\n

We opened a case in September 2012. Lafferty and retired Special Agent Joe Ciccarelli\u2014with the help of West Virginia State Police investigators\u2014uncovered evidence that Thornsbury, then-Sheriff Eugene Crum (who had formerly been the county\u2019s chief magistrate judge), and Michael Sparks, then the county\u2019s prosecuting attorney, had been engaging in corrupt activities.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the judge coerced a local drug defendant into firing his defense counsel because Thornsbury and other Team Mingo officials, including former County Commissioner David Baisden, learned that the drug defendant was prepared to testify that Sheriff Crum had illegally received prescription pain medication and obtained unlawful campaign contributions.<\/p>\n

To protect Crum, Thornsbury and his colleagues pressured the defendant into firing his defense attorney and replacing him with another attorney handpicked by Team Mingo.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Switched<\/strong><\/p>\n

After switching lawyers and pleading guilty to lesser charges, the defendant dropped his allegations against Crum and was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n

In addition, Thornsbury was later charged with trying to frame the husband of a woman with whom he was having an affair.<\/p>\n

The judge tried to have drugs planted in the husband\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

When that plan failed, he arranged to have the man arrested for stealing scrap metal\u2014even when it was determined the man had been given permission to take the material.<\/p>\n

Judge Sent to Prison<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June, Thornsbury was sent to prison<\/a> for more than four years for denying residents their constitutional rights.<\/p>\n

The federal judge who sentenced him compared Thornsbury\u2019s abuses of office to the actions of a Third World dictator.<\/p>\n

Sparks, the former prosecutor who later cooperated with our investigation, was recently sentenced to a year in prison for his role in Team Mingo\u2019s illegal activities.<\/p>\n

Others previously jailed as a result of the corruption probe include Baisden, sentenced in January to 20 months\u2019 imprisonment, and former Mingo County chief magistrate Dallas Toler, sentenced in March to 27 months in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeam Mingo controlled the legal system, and they may have thought no one would stand up against them,\u201d said Lafferty, who has been investigating public corruption and white-collar crime for more than a decade. \u201cThat didn\u2019t turn out to be the case. No matter how much power you wield,\u201d he added, \u201cwhen you violate the public trust and engage in corruption, sooner or later, you will get caught.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FBI NEWS\u00a0REPORT– \u00a0In the run-up to the 2012 primary elections in Mingo County, West Virginia, a group of officials adopted a campaign slogan: Team Mingo. But the judge, sheriff, and county prosecuting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[648],"tags":[1722,735,173],"class_list":["post-5288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-voices","tag-fbi","tag-mingo-county","tag-west-virginia"],"yoast_head":"\nViolation of Public Trust: FBI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FBI NEWS\u00a0REPORT- \u00a0In the run-up to the 2012 primary elections in Mingo County, West Virginia, a group of officials adopted a campaign slogan: Team Mingo.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5288\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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