In a surprise turn of events Wednesday, a Pike County grand jury indicted not only the chief of Williamson, W.Va.'s fire department, but the department member who accused him of tampering with evidence in connection with a two-car wreck that occurred in March on U.S. 119 in South Williamson.
Chief Jerry Mounts, a 31-year veteran of the Williamson Fire Department, and Roger Maynard, a reported 12-year veteran of the department, were both named in Wednesday's indictment.
Mounts, 50, and Maynard, 41, both of Williamson, were each indicted on one count of tampering with evidence, a Class D felony. The indictment alleges that Mounts and Maynard "maybe instituted, removed or concealed physical evidence which they believed was about to be produced or used in an official proceeding with the intent to impair its verity or availability in the official proceeding, or while acting in complicity with each other in doing so, including but not limited to taking the following actions after responding to an accident in their official duties as firefighters."
The indictment continued, "Jerry Mounts picked up a pipe used to ingest illegal drugs from the accident scene and gave it to Roger Maynard and told him to get rid of it and Roger Maynard then put the pipe in his pocket and Roger Maynard then picked up and took possession of an unmarked bottle of what appeared to be an illegal controlled substance from one of the drivers involved in the accident. Roger Maynard took the items from the scene of the accident.
"Jerry Mounts later told Roger Maynard to get rid of the items. Roger Maynard was told that he and Jerry Mounts had been observed by more than one witness removing the items. Roger Maynard turned the items over to the Kentucky State Police trooper only after the trooper went to the fire department in West Virginia and asked for the evidence," the indictment concluded.
Maynard signed a sworn affidavit that Mounts had ordered him to dispose of items found near one of the cars involved in the two-car wreck. The car belonged to Allen Urps, 24, of Williamson. The items allegedly consisted of a porcelain pipe, an unmarked bottle of pills and an unknown amount of cash. Mounts allegedly handed the items to Maynard in a baseball cap and told Maynard to leave the scene with it. According to the statement, Maynard allegedly did not dispose of the items, but placed them in a bag, marked them and kept them at the fire department headquarters. The next day, KSP investigators reportedly came to the fire department and began investigating the case.
Mounts alone had been charged with one count of tampering with evidence and waived the case to the grand jury on June 1. Following the hearing, Mounts' attorney, former Williamson mayor Charles S. "Butch" West, said he and Mounts believed the situation came down to a conflict within the fire department and that Mounts had been targeted because of unpopular decisions he has made as the supervising officer of the department.
Since the March 3 accident, Urps has been charged with second offense driving under the influence of intoxicants in Mingo County. He is scheduled to appear before Mingo County Magistrate Pam Newsome for a hearing on the matter which occurred June 24 on Aug. 9. Urps was also arrested in Pike County in January 2004 on similar charges.
Urps' father, Sonny Urps, is a volunteer member of the fire department and a member of Williamson's Unsafe Buildings Commission.
As of press time, Mounts nor Maynard had appeared in Pike County Circuit Court to answer the charges, according to representatives from both the Pike County Circuit Clerk's Office and the Pike County Detention Center. It is not known what, if any, action the Williamson City Council will take in regard to the matter. The council met in regular session Thursday evening, after the News-Express went to press.
Copyright 2006 Appalachian News-Express All Rights Reserved.
Republished with permission of the News-Express.
