WESTOVER, W.Va — A municipal mayor in Monongalia County pleaded guilty to an election-related charge in circuit court Monday.
Westover Mayor David Johnson was indicted on one count of circulating anonymous written material, a misdemeanor, and one count of unlawful PRINTING, possession or delivery of ballots, a felony, stemming from an incident in April 2014.
Johnson pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge before Monongalia County Circuit Circuit Judge Phillip D. Gaujot. The judge sentenced Johnson to 50 hours of community service and handed down a $500 fine.
The felony charge was dismissed.
Johnson has served as Westover’s mayor for 6 and a half years. There’s another 18 months remaining on his term which he said he will continue to serve.
“I like being the mayor of Westover. I can make a difference there. We’ve done real well with the city. We’ve done a lot of things. Obviously, the people like the job I’m doing or they wouldn’t keep electing me,” said Johnson.
Monongalia County Prosecutor Marcia Ashdown said Johnson shared an election ballot, marked official, with a clerk he was familiar with at United Bank in Westover.
Johnson indicated in court that he frequented the bank to make personal business transactions multiple times a week. Johnson said he shared the ballot for the clerk to take home to review because he had discussed the election with her.
Johnson told the judge he did not know he’d committed a crime.
“Whenever we found out they were investigating it, I had to think about it. I didn’t remember having done it until we found out what it was,” explained Johnson.
After the original indictment, Johnson was re-elected to office. He said it was pure chance he picked the ballot up out of his work mailbox before visiting the bank.
It was very coincidental. There was no intent. I never once considered stepping down,” said Johnson.