Gov. Justice’s administration addresses alleged theft by WVSP trooper

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WTAP) - The administration of Governor Jim Justice on March 22 addressed the alleged theft committed by a West Virginia State Police trooper shown in surveillance footage released earlier in the week.

The footage shows a man described by investigators as a now-retired trooper appearing to steal an envelope full of cash left unattended on a chair. The alleged theft occurred in May 2021 at the Mardi Gras casino Earlier this week, Governor Justice described the event as a clear act of stealing.

During a briefing on March 22, the governor’s chief of staff Brian Abraham said that, at this point, no charges are being filed against the trooper because it’s most likely too late to file any. “Given the delay between the discovery of the incident by homeland security and this coming to public eye, the statute of limitations has most likely run that would prohibit a prosecution of that charge,” Abraham said. “The amount of money involved was just a little bit more than $750 in cash, which would’ve labeled that as a misdemeanor petit larceny, thus the statute of limitations.”

Why there were never charges filed when the incident occurred remains unclear. According to reporting from our sister station WSAZ, the trooper in question retired in February after the alleged theft came to the attention of then-superintendent of the state police, Jan Cahill.

Cahill resigned on Monday, and was replaced with interim superintendent Jack Chambers.

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