By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER — The West Virginia Ethics Commission will neither confirm nor deny that it is investigating the conduct of public officials in the city of Keyser as a result of the Marques Rice indictment, while the State Auditor’s Office says it has received no request for an investigation, despite a State Police officer’s assertion to the contrary.
Rice, a former Keyser city councilman, was indicted Sept. 3 by the Mineral County Grand Jury following a State Police investigation that lasted more than a year. He was charged with embezzlement and making false pretenses, both of which are felony offenses.
Rice’s attorney has indicted that her client is innocent and she will fight the charges at trial if necessary.
The embezzlement charge against Rice involves a multi-year, $1 million tree removal contract the city had with JR Tree Service. That contract is also at the heart of potential ethics issues and financial irregularities involving other city officials.
The investigation into misappropriation of funds was conducted by Sgt. J.M. Droppleman of the West Virginia State Police, Mineral County detachment. Droppleman had requested that the investigation be conducted by a special state police financial fraud unit, but his superiors in Charleston said those investigators were too busy with other cases.
After wading through thousands of documents and interviewing dozens of witnesses — including current and former city elected officials — Droppleman brought a case that involves just the two charges against Rice. However, Droppleman said that certain issues he uncovered beyond the scope of the Rice indictment were referred to the State Ethics Commission as well as the State Auditor’s Office.
The Ethics Commission will not comment on any aspect of the matter, and will not even confirm that they have received such an inquiry.
Lew Brewer, executive director of the West Virginia Ethics Commission, said the commission’s standard policy is to make no comment on any such matters until a case has been vetted by what he described as a “grand jury” within the commission’s office.
“I can neither confirm nor deny that the Ethics Commission is investigating any of the matters, simply because all of these matters are confidential, and I can’t comment on that,” he said.
(See COMMISSION, page 2)
Created in 1989, the Ethics Commission is a 12-member body appointed by the governor to enforce a state code of ethical conduct for public servants. Separate from the commission itself is a three-member Probable Cause Review Board, which conducts an initial investigation of all complaints brought to the full commission. If the Review Board determines there is probable cause to believe an offense has occurred, the commission will confirm the investigation and conduct a public hearing into the charges.
If the Review Board finds there is no probable cause, the issue dies there, without any public acknowledgement that it was even investigated.
Brewer said it could be anywhere from 30 days to six months before the Ethics Commission would act on a complaint involving the city of Keyser.
As for the State Auditor’s Office, officials in Charleston said they are unaware of any request for an investigation into financial improprieties in Keyser. “We did not receive any information regarding the city of Keyser,” said Stuart Stickel, deputy state auditor.
Sgt. Droppleman said he could not understand such a response, as officials from the State Auditor’s Office had visited the Barrack to retrieve information on the case.
“They came here to the office and made copies of stuff,” Droppleman said. “It was turned over to them. If they now say they never got anything, that’s up to them.”
Keyser, W.Va. —
