Another Dem pussy hound revealed?
A West Virginia judge is accused of having an affair with his secretary and trying to frame her husband for several crimes over five years, including drug possession, larceny and assault.
Authorities said none of the schemes panned out for Mingo County Circuit Court Judge Michael Thornsbury, and he was charged Thursday with two counts of conspiracy.
A second county official was charged with extortion in an unrelated case in yet another blow to an area still reeling from the assassination of its sheriff in April.
Thornsbury, 57, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. His attorney, Steve Jory, didn't immediately return telephone calls or emails.
The indictment said the judge wanted a friend to plant a magnetic metal box in 2008 containing drugs on a vehicle belonging to the secretary's husband, Robert Woodruff's. The judge's friend didn't go through with it.
When that failed, prosecutors said the judge got a state trooper to file a false complaint against Woodruff for larceny. The judge wanted the trooper to pursue a case against Woodruff, an employee of H. Coal Co., for salvaging mine-roof drill bits and scrap from his employer, even though he had permission to do so.
Thornsbury befriended the trooper and "purposely cultivated a relationship" to influence the way he carried out his law enforcement duties, the indictment said.
Thornsbury also tapped a friend, the county's emergency services director, to become the grand jury foreman, according to the indictment. The judge allegedly wrote subpoenas and had the grand jury issue them to help get private information about Woodruff.
The scheme was exposed when one of the businesses refused to cooperate.
When Robert Woodruff became the victim of an assault outside a convenience store last year by two men _ one of whom brandished a handgun _ the judge arranged for R.W. to be identified as the perpetrator so he would receive "an exceptionally harsh sentence."
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/nation/w-va-judge-county-official-face-federal-charges/article_d2c5f107-6979-5a0e-a7e9-18d0d7e3cef9.html
