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FBI Probes Democrat Vote Fraud in W.Va.
Federal prosecutors scored two more guilty pleas Tuesday, including one from a county clerk, in their ongoing probe of election fraud in southern West Virginia. Logan County Clerk Glen Dale "Hound Dog" Adkins admitted to selling his vote for $500 in the 1996 Democratic Party primary, while Crown resident Perry French Harvey Jr. pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe voters in last year's Democratic contest. First elected clerk in 1986, the 57-year-old Adkins plans to resign soon, defense lawyer Dwane L. Tinsley said. Adkins and Harvey, 56, each face up to five years in prison at Feb. 28 sentencings. They have agreed to aid investigators. Both cases involve Thomas Esposito, who was planted as a candidate in a 2004 legislative race in an apparently unprecedented ploy by the FBI to ferret out evidence of election fraud.
Story Continues Below Before he began secretly working for federal investigators, Esposito bribed Adkins to vote for an unidentified candidate for county magistrate in 1996, Adkins' plea agreement with prosecutors said. Esposito was then the mayor of the city of Logan, and part of one of several Democratic factions that have long dominated county politics. After the FBI had Esposito file as a candidate in the 19th House of Delegates District, Harvey conspired with him and a second county man to bribe voters in the May 2004 primary. With Harvey looking on, Esposito handed Ernie Ray Mangus $2,000 in FBI-supplied cash during a political rally that April, Assistant U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said at Harvey's hearing. Esposito said, "Guys, buy all the votes you can for me," Goodwin told Chief U.S. District Judge David Faber. Mangus, who is cooperating with prosecutors in exchange for immunity, split the money with Harvey. Harvey still has the $1,000 and will return it to the government as part of his plea agreement, Goodwin said.
Esposito withdrew from the race two days after the rally, but his name remained on the primary ballot and he received 2,175 votes. Harvey's defense lawyer, Greg Campbell, argued unsuccessfully that Esposito's sham candidacy wrongly interfered with an election and disenfranchised those who cast ballots for him. Harvey opted to plead guilty after Faber rejected Campbell's bid to dismiss the charge earlier this month; he was to face trial Wednesday. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors will drop a second count alleging Harvey lied to the FBI about the April 2004 meeting. The charge to which Adkins pleaded guilty was filed Tuesday morning. Prosecutors have agreed to the dismissal of a broader indictment handed up against him in July that alleged he conspired to bribe voters in elections between 1992 and 2002. During Adkins' plea hearing, Faber noted that the statute of limitations would normally bar prosecutors from charging him in a 1996 incident. Adkins agreed to waive that right. Afterward, Tinsley stressed that Adkins had admitted to selling his vote, and not to buying votes as the indictment had alleged. The election fraud investigation has centered on vote-buying allegations mostly during Democratic primaries in Logan and neighboring Lincoln County. Last year, it yielded guilty pleas from Logan County's sheriff and the city of Logan's police chief, leading both to resign.
© 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note:
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