MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Republican candidate for Berkeley County Sheriff John Orem is in Berkeley County Magistrate Court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing on a single misdemeanor count of drug-possession.
The charges stem from an arrest Aug. 2 after West Virginia State Police responded to assist with an apparent overdose.
Orem, 47, was found unconscious in his bathroom and was allegedly revived with the opioid reversal drug Narcan.
Police recovered evidence at the scene indicating drug use including a baggie, a length of shoe string and a burnt spoon that field tested positive for heroin.
Orem expects the charge to be dismissed after the hearing.
“Truth of the matter is, this should be thrown out,” Orem said last week on Panhandle Live.
Orem offered an explanation for the evidence, saying he never saw the alleged baggie.
He added that the shoe string was simply a cat toy used by his young son and that the spoon was claimed by another individual who had been staying at the house while getting sober.
“There’s nothing else. There’s no drugs, there’s no needle,” he said. “The (state) troopers even testified there wasn’t even any marks on my body indicating drug use.”
Orem blames media hype for much of the controversy surrounding the incident and insinuated there may also be corruption in law enforcement at play.
Orem is scheduled for a jury trial October 12.