Tag: Kickback Scheme

August 30, 1968: Wally Barron Acquitted of Federal Charges

On August 30, 1968, Wally Barron was acquitted of federal charges stemming from alleged money kickbacks and rigged state contracts during the time he was governor. Several of Barron’s associates weren’t so fortunate. His road commissioner, Burl Sawyers; Deputy State Road Commissioner, Vincent J. Johnkoski; Finance and Administration Commissioner Truman Gore; longtime Barron friend Bonn Brown of Elkins; and Clarksburg auto dealer Fred Schroath were all convicted in the kickback scheme. 

But the former governor didn’t escape his legal problems for long. It was soon rumored that Barron and his wife, Opal, had bribed the jury foreman—the lone jury holdout for acquitting Barron. In 1971, a federal jury indicted both Barrons for bribery, claiming the former first lady had passed $25,000 in a brown paper bag to the jury foreman’s wife.

Wally Barron pleaded guilty to a new indictment of conspiracy, bribery, and obstruction of justice in exchange for the charges being dropped against his wife. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and served four. He died in 2002 at age 90. Opal Barron died in 2010 at age 95.

House Leader Calls for License Reviews for Kickback Probe

A West Virginia House of Delegates leader has asked state agencies to review the licenses of four men who have admitted to taking part in a kickback scheme involving the Division of Highways.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports House Government Organization Chairman Gary Howell sent letters last week to the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, the Contractors Licensing Board and the state Purchasing Division.

Howell wants the agencies to submit reports and timelines that detail whether they have taken steps to revoke the licenses of the men who’ve entered guilty pleas.

DOH engineers Bruce E. Kenney III and James Travis Miller have pleaded guilty, as have Bayliss & Ramey President Mark R. Whitt and Marshall University professor Andrew P. Nichols.

Ex-Mine Purchasing Agent Gets Probation in Kickback Scheme

A former coal employee in Logan County has been sentenced to five years’ probation for his role in a kickback scheme.

Thirty-five-year-old Chadwick Lusk of Davin was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Charleston for his guilty plea to a charge of honest services mail fraud. Lusk also was ordered to pay $230,000 restitution to Arch Coal.

Lusk admitted that when he worked as a purchasing agent at the Mountain Laurel Mining Complex, he defrauded Arch Coal subsidiary Mingo Logan Coal through cash kickbacks.

Federal prosecutors say Logan County businessman Gary Roeher paid Lusk a portion of the profits for crib blocks that the coal company bought from Roeher’s supply firm. Crib blocks provide roof support at underground mines.

Federal Suit in West Virginia Cites Subcontractor Kickbacks

Federal officials have filed a civil complaint against 15 people and 12 companies, alleging they participated in a kickback scheme while working on two federally-funded laboratory projects in West Virginia.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that a former special investigator for the National Energy Technology Laboratory projects received thousands of dollars in kickbacks and approved subcontracts to companies where his sons were employed. The work was not completed.

Authorities say the investigator was terminated in 2010 from contractor Arizona Public Service Company, an electricity provider that also explored renewable energy alternatives and was working for the federal government on the West Virginia projects.

The laboratory projects, administered from Morgantown, involved more than $85 million of federal spending for developing natural gas co-production and carbon dioxide uses.

The government is seeking civil penalties.

Ex-Arch Coal Employee Sentenced for Kickbacks

A former Arch Coal employee will spend six months in prison for lying to investigators about a kickback scheme at a mine.

Gary Griffith had pleaded guilty in July 2014 to making a materially false statement in a federal matter. The 63-year-old Oceana resident was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says Griffith admitted lying about receiving kickbacks when he was maintenance manager at Arch Coal’s Mountain Laurel Mining Complex in Logan County.

Goodwin says in a news release that an unnamed person associated with North American Rebuild Company, Inc. paid kickbacks to Griffith and the mine’s former general manager for each shuttle car ordered from the company.

The company provided shuttle cars to Mountain Laurel and another Arch Coal mine.

Man Pleads Guilty in W.Va. Mine Kickback Scheme

  A Delbarton man has pleaded guilty to spearheading a kickback scheme at an Arch Coal mine in southern West Virginia.

David Runyon’s guilty plea came Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston. He faces up to 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines for extortion and tax evasion.

Judge Thomas Johnston said Runyon’s plea agreement includes $1 million in restitution to Arch and about $426,000 to the IRS.

Federal prosecutors say companies had to pay kickbacks to Arch employees for business at the Mountain Laurel mining complex in Logan County.

Prosecutors say kickbacks totaled nearly $2 million from 2007 to 2012.

Runyon was Mountain Laurel’s general manager.

He is among 10 men who’ve pleaded guilty to various charges related to the scheme.

His sentencing will take place Nov. 19.

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