PRINCETON — One of Mercer County’s chief law enforcement officers is reportedly under investigation himself.
According to a warrant for inspection released Thursday from the West Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration officers were authorized to search Sheriff Danny R. Wills’ offices in the Mercer County Courthouse for controlled substances inventories, dispensing records, ordering invoices and theft/loss forms.
Though the warrant was originally sealed to protect “personal, privileged and proprietary information” contained therein, U.S. Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman Tracy Chapman released a revised, or redacted, document to the Princeton Times Thursday, adding that the office would have no comment, with the exception of the file.
Wills, who was elected to his second term as Mercer County sheriff, had previously worked as both a West Virginia State Police Trooper and a medical doctor. The warrant indicated he was still running a medical practice from the courthouse and the sheriff’s office, a space deemed “a controlled premises” in United States Code.
Wills, who held onto his medical license once he became sheriff, would therefore be required to keep “complete and accurate records of all controlled substances received, sold, delivered or otherwise disposed of by him.”
The warrant was signed by Federal Magistrate R. Clarke VanDervort and certified as a true copy on May 5.
That same day, DEA Diversion Investigator Dominic Grant executed the warrant at approximately 2 p.m. and retrieved more than 80 patient files, information regarding a state treasury investment account and a folder marked “GIV invoices containing drug ordering information.”
GIV reportedly stands for General Injectables & Vaccines, a Bland County, Va.-based business that distributes medications and vaccines to physicians and health care agencies.
Unofficial reports circulated Thursday that Wills intended to resign soon, possibly by the end of the day, but Mercer County Commissioners Joe Coburn, Karen Disibbio and Jay Mills said they had received no such word.
Wills referred all calls and requests for comments to attorney Mark Wills, who said the allegations had “absolutely nothing to do with his duties as a sheriff.”
He said he was certain the facts of the case would be forthcoming, but that the sheriff was still on duty as of Thursday afternoon.
“He has not resigned ... and, that’s all I have to say at this time,” Mark Wills said.
— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.
Princeton Times
May 22, 2009
Sheriff Wills under investigation
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