CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Menis E. Ketchum II, age 76, of Huntington, a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, was sentenced to three years of probation, a $20,000 fine and was ordered to pay restitution to the State of West Virginia by Senior United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the West Virginia Legislature’s Commission on Special Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
“Menis Ketchum pled guilty to a felony,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “There is no such thing as a little bit of public corruption, but Justice Ketchum at least did the right thing for doing the wrong thing. Ketchum accepted responsibility for his misdeeds by resigning from the court and acknowledging his wrongdoing. It is my sincere hope that we may soon be able to end our investigation of the West Virginia Supreme Court and allow the people of West Virginia to move forward with confidence and respect for a court that is often the ultimate judge on critical matters affecting all West Virginians. I want to thank my prosecutors, Assistant United States Attorney Phil Wright and former Assistant United States Attorney Anna Forbes, along with our federal and state law enforcement partners, for their excellent work in this case.”
Justice Ketchum pled guilty to wire fraud in August 2018. Ketchum served as a Supreme Court Justice from January 1, 2008 through July 27, 2018. He admitted to repeated personal use of a State of West Virginia vehicle and State fuel credit card over the course of 2011 through 2014 in connection with his travel from his home in Huntington, West Virginia to and from a private golf club in western Virginia. The roundtrip mileage for each of these golf outings was approximately 400 miles and cost the taxpayers of West Virginia approximately $220 per trip. In particular, on August 6, 2014, he traveled to the private golf club in a State vehicle, and returned to his home on August 9, 2014. During the return trip to Huntington, Ketchum used a State fuel card to purchase gasoline in Princeton, West Virginia, causing an interstate wire communication.
Assistant United States Attorney Phil Wright and former Assistant United States Attorney L. Anna Forbes handled the prosecution.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- United States Attorney Mike Stuart announced today that former West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Menis E. Ketchum II, age 75, pled guilty to wire fraud. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the West Virginia Legislature’s Commission on Special Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
“Justice Ketchum did the right thing for doing the wrong thing,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “There is no such thing as a small felony. There is no such thing as a little bit of public corruption. I want to praise the exemplary work of the FBI, the West Virginia Legislature’s Commission on Special Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, and prosecutors Anna Forbes and Phil Wright.”
Justice Ketchum served as a Supreme Court Justice from January 1, 2008 through July 27, 2018. During that time, he admitted to repeated personal use of a State of West Virginia vehicle and State fuel credit card over the course of 2011 through 2014 in connection with his travel from his home in Huntington, West Virginia to and from a private golf club in western Virginia. The roundtrip mileage for each of these golf outings was approximately 400 miles and cost the taxpayers of West Virginia approximately $220 per trip.
Justice Ketchum faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on December 6, 2018.
United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. presided over the plea hearing. Assistant United States Attorneys Anna Forbes and Phil Wright are handling the prosecution.
The plea agreeement can be found here.
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CHARLESTON, W. Va. – United States Attorney Mike Stuart announced today that former West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Menis E. Ketchum II, age 75, was charged by Information with wire fraud. Justice Ketchum served as a Supreme Court Justice from January 1, 2008 through July 27, 2018.
“Corruption by public officials – any public official – is a priority of my office,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “The people of West Virginia have worked too hard and too long to tolerate misconduct that strikes at the heart of the public’s trust by their elected officials. I believe it is a fundamental right of every West Virginian to have honest government with public officials worthy of the greatness of our citizens.”
The Information relates to Justice Ketchum’s repeated personal use of a State of West Virginia vehicle and State fuel credit card over the course of 2011 through 2014 in connection with his travel from his home in Huntington, West Virginia to and from a private golf club in western Virginia. The roundtrip mileage for each of these golf outings was approximately 400 miles and cost the taxpayers of West Virginia approximately $220 per trip.
Stuart praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the West Virginia Legislative Commission on Special Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation Division.
“Throughout this investigation and including today’s filing of a federal information against Justice Ketchum, the system worked,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “This is not a sad day for West Virginia but, rather, a day in which our citizens should be comforted. We are now one step closer to ending the crisis of this court.”
"West Virginians deserve public officials they can trust and who will represent them honestly and fairly," said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nick Boshears. "The public needs to know they can have the highest confidence those who violate their trust will be held accountable."
The Information carries a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years.
Please note: An Information is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Description: The fiscal year of the data file obtained from the AOUSC
Format: YYYY
Description: The code of the federal judicial circuit where the case was located
Format: A2
Description: The code of the federal judicial district where the case was located
Format: A2
Description: The code of the district office where the case was located
Format: A2
Description: Docket number assigned by the district to the case
Format: A7
Description: A unique number assigned to each defendant in a case which cannot be modified by the court
Format: A3
Description: A unique number assigned to each defendant in a case which can be modified by the court
Format: A3
Description: A sequential number indicating whether a case is an original proceeding or a reopen
Format: N5
Description: Case type associated with the current defendant record
Format: A2
Description: A concatenation of district, office, docket number, case type, defendant number, and reopen sequence number
Format: A18
Description: A concatenation of district, office, docket number, case type, and reopen sequence number
Format: A15
Description: The status of the defendant as assigned by the AOUSC
Format: A2
Description: A code indicating the fugitive status of a defendant
Format: A1
Description: The date upon which a defendant became a fugitive
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which a fugitive defendant was taken into custody
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date when a case was first docketed in the district court
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which proceedings in a case commenced on charges pending in the district court where the defendant appeared, or the date of the defendant’s felony-waiver of indictment
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: A code used to identify the nature of the proceeding
Format: N2
Description: The date when a defendant first appeared before a judicial officer in the district court where a charge was pending
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: A code indicating the type of legal counsel assigned to a defendant
Format: N2
Description: The title and section of the U.S. Code applicable to the offense committed which carried the highest severity
Format: A20
Description: A code indicating the level of offense associated with FTITLE1
Format: N2
Description: The four digit AO offense code associated with FTITLE1
Format: A4
Description: The four digit D2 offense code associated with FTITLE1
Format: A4
Description: A code indicating the severity associated with FTITLE1
Format: A3
Description: The FIPS code used to indicate the county or parish where an offense was committed
Format: A5
Description: The date of the last action taken on the record
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which judicial proceedings before the court concluded
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which the final sentence is recorded on the docket
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which the case was closed
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The total fine imposed at sentencing for all offenses of which the defendant was convicted and a fine was imposed
Format: N8
Description: A count of defendants filed including inter-district transfers
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants filed excluding inter-district transfers
Format: N1
Description: A count of original proceedings commenced
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants filed whose proceedings commenced by reopen, remand, appeal, or retrial
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants terminated including interdistrict transfers
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants terminated excluding interdistrict transfers
Format: N1
Description: A count of original proceedings terminated
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants terminated whose proceedings commenced by reopen, remand, appeal, or retrial
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants pending as of the last day of the period including long term fugitives
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants pending as of the last day of the period excluding long term fugitives
Format: N1
Description: The source from which the data were loaded into the AOUSC’s NewSTATS database
Format: A10
Description: A sequential number indicating the iteration of the defendant record
Format: N2
Description: The date the record was loaded into the AOUSC’s NewSTATS database
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: Statistical year ID label on data file obtained from the AOUSC which represents termination year
