Siblings on W.Va. police force admit faked traffic citations
FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. (AP) — Two brothers who were on the Gauley Bridge police force have admitted to fabricating warning citations for traffic stops.
Leonard Sean Whipkey, 47, of Hico, and Heath Alan Whipkey, 42, of Summersville, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of alteration of a public record Thursday in Fayette County Magistrate Court. Both were fined $100 and placed on probation.
The brothers admitted to forging motorists’ signatures. The Charleston Gazette (http://bit.ly/1KChuv2) reports Heath Whipkey was paid overtime for a fake traffic stop as part of state funding for drunken driving patrols.
An attorney for the Whipkeys declined comment after the hearing.
Leonard Whipkey was the police chief when he resigned in 2012 to become a coal miner, while Heath Whipkey had still been working as an officer. They are now prohibited from police work.
State Police Lt. E.E. Ashcraft declined to disclose how many times the brothers fabricated warning citations, citing an ongoing investigation.
A state auditor’s report in 2012 showed Gauley Bridge police had falsified warning citations for driving under the influence. The audit didn’t list specific officers.
Leonard Whipkey joined the Gauley Bridge police department in December 2002 and his brother was hired a year later.
The newspaper said Gauley Bridge reported to the DMV that it had 28 speeding convictions in 2002 and 268 the following year. Over a three-and-a-half year period late last decade, police in the town of about 610 residents issued 5,057 speeding tickets, more than any other community in the state.
Former mayor Byron Winebrenner has said the Whipkey brothers had made speeding crackdowns a top priority.