The Pocahontas County prosecutor could re-indict several people charged with selling state property to scrap metal dealers.
The initial indictments against former and current employees of Cass Scenic Railroad State Park were found to be faulty and were recently dismissed by a circuit judge. The Pocahontas County Prosecutor’s Office says the case may go before a grand jury again April 17-19.
A two-year State Police investigation led Troopers to a $30,000 scheme where employees would allegedly take scrap metal from Cass, turn it in to a scrapyard and pocket the money. Eleven people were originally indicted.
Several of them claim they had permission from former Cass Superintendent David Caplinger, now the superintendent at Pipestem State Park, to sell the scrap metal. Caplinger was one of the 11 originally indicted.
State Police Corporal Mark Agee says the money gained from the sales legally belongs to the state park.
Charges against the 11 ranged from felony conspiracy to grand theft.
The investigation got underway in October 2011 when current Cass Superintendent Rob Sovine made a complaint about the missing metal.