Wood County Commission weighs options in firestorm involving sheriff

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — The Wood County Commission decided Thursday to seek legal advice that could lead to an attempt to remove Wood County Sheriff Steve Stephens from office.

Commissioner David Blair Couch

Commission President David Blair Couch said allegations against Stephens have been piling up for months and the commission is obligated to explore the situation.

“We’re not taking this lightly,” Couch said. “The commission agrees that we have a moral and ethical duty to do whatever we can to sort this out.”

Members of the Wood County Deputy Sheriff’s Association recently voted that they had no confidence in Stephens. In a letter detailing the vote, the association calls Stephens a “tyrant” and “an oppressive dictator” in connection with how he runs the office he’s held since early 2017.

Stephens has also been named along with the county commission in a civil lawsuit filed by a former deputy. The lawsuit claims negligent training under Stephens and makes other allegations.

Couch said seeking to remove an elected official is purposely difficult. He said state code gives the county commission the authority to seek the removal through a three-judge panel.

“The bar will be very high,” Couch said.

He added the county commission doesn’t yet know if the allegations against Stephens reach the level of removal. That’s why they’ll be seeking outside counsel.

“There’s part of us that says whether we are successful or not we still have a duty,” Couch said. “It’s very important for our sheriff’s department to operate at a high level and we’re getting concerns that it isn’t.”

Wood County Sheriff Steve Stephens (Facebook)

There have been a lot of allegations made against Stephens but not many on the record, Couch said.

“Some deputies that came in to our administrator or our prosecuting attorney and each time we’ve asked them to reduce it to writing but they haven’t. Maybe in an interview process with someone who is not connected to Wood County they may be more forthcoming–we just don’t know,” Couch said.

Couch plans to speak with law firms located outside of Wood County Friday to see if they would be interested in assisting the county. He said there’s a lot of work to do.

“If the accusations prove true–more than just a ‘he said, she said’ argument, we need to find that out,” Couch said.

Stephens did not attend Thursday’s county commission meeting.

MetroNews reached out for comment from Stephens and is waiting on a response to this story.





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