CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The mayor of Williamson was charged with lying to federal investigators Tuesday less than 24 hours after he resigned his office.
Darrin McCormick was named in a federal information alleging he lied to an FBI agent investigating a workers’ compensation scheme and suspicious banking activity.
McCormick allegedly committed the crime on Feb. 19, 2013. He was the Williamson branch manager of the Bank of Mingo at the time.
MORE: Read the charges against McCormick.
“Federal investigations are serious matters,” said U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin in a prepared statement, “and providing false information to federal investigators is a serious crime. When people try to lead investigators astray with false statements, justice suffers, and that hurts all of us.”
A federal information usually means the defendant is cooperating with prosecutors. McCormick submitted his letter of resignation as Williamson’s mayor Monday and said he would stay on the job until April 30. He was elected in 2005.
Goodwin’s office has been investigating the dealings of employee leasing firm Aracoma Contracting of Williamson. The company was sentenced in February to three years probation and ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution for operating a structuring scheme.
Aracoma would send advance forms to the Bank of Mingo’s Williamson branch so the bank could prepare the cash ahead of time. The bank would then have cashier’s checks ready to be signed in exchange for the cash.
The company, working with an employee at the Bank of Mingo, would withdraw $10,000 or less in cash and use it to pay payroll to avoid federal employment taxes. The money was also used to bribe BrickStreet Insurance field auditor Arville Sargent who worked with Aracoma to falsifying the number of employees at the company in order to lower workers’ compensation rates.
Sargent has already been sentenced to six years in prison.
Jerome Edward Russell, 50, of Williamson, and Frelin R. Workman, 58, of Belfry, Ky., acted as principals on behalf of Aracoma. They’ve been sentenced to 30 months in prison in connection with the bribery scheme.