Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270133
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Wells said that he sought outside counsel when County Attorney John Overstreet denied him advice. The sheriff was seeking reimbursement for $7,864.40 that he paid on April 5 to the Lynchburg law firm of Caskie & Frost.
In defense of his claim, Wells cited a Virginia law that allows county governments to reimburse sheriffs for legal fees if they have been arrested or prosecuted and found not guilty.
The board unanimously rejected Wells' claim, saying that Wells had been neither arrested nor prosecuted; he was only investigated.
Wells responded to the board's decision with two words:
"Thank you."
In a special hearing in Charlottesville last month, Albemarle County Circuit Judge Jay Swett ruled that Wells had to request reimbursement from the board in person before taking action against the county in court.
The county filed a civil suit against Wells in May, seeking $15,000 in interest from payroll funds that Wells deposited into his personal bank account. Investigators have said Wells used the interest to buy a pickup truck for himself. Swett will hear the suit in Bedford County Circuit Court on Nov. 15.
In April, special prosecutor Eric Sisler ended the investigation against Wells, saying he found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Wells because commingling funds was not illegal at the time Wells did it.
Wells stopped depositing payroll funds into his personal account in April 1993, two months before a new state law made it illegal for sheriffs to commingle payroll funds.
by CNB