CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former Kanawha County home confinement officer is going to prison for accepting a bribe from a man under his supervision.
Jacques Vance was sentenced Tuesday to 1-10 years behind bars after previously pleading guilty to felony bribery.
Prosecutors said Vance accepted $4,000 in cash from Robert Henry Hebert Jr. between Oct. 7, 2015, and April 17, 2017. Hebert was serving home confinement under Vance’s supervision at the time. In exchange for cash, Vance did not report Hebert’s home confinement violations.
Vance apologized to Judge Charlie King, Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford, Home Confinement Chief Harry Carpenter and his family during a Tuesday hearing in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
“I just want to apologize to you for not being a loyal man in my job duties and not protecting the integrity of this court,” Vance told King. “I’m truly sorry.”
Vance’s attorney argued for a sentence of home confinement, while prosecutors asked for the maximum prison sentence.
Judge King said he could not ignore what Vance did.
“To give him probation at this point would be like turning my head to what occurred. I can’t do that,” King said.
Before he handed down the prison sentence, King told Vance he can no longer trust him.
“We relied on you to do that, trusted you to do that and in affect, you violated that trust. You let all of us down. You let the system down. I, therefore, cannot in good conscious give you probation,” he said.
Vance admitted to the judge what he did was wrong.
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” he said. “I know I went about it the wrong way. I never should have accepted any monetary gifts whatsoever.”
Hebert previously pleaded guilty to felony possession with intent to deliver heroin in September 2015. He was sentenced to two years of home confinement where he was under Vance’s supervision.
The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office has already taken steps to prevent similar conduct from home confinement officers in the future.