Ex-Mingo official agrees to pay $7,700 restitution

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A former Mingo County commissioner who pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge has agreed to pay $7,700 in restitution to two tire companies.

David Baisden pleaded guilty in October to trying to buy tires for his personal vehicle at a government discount in 2009, then terminating the county’s contract with Appalachian Tire when it refused to cooperate.

Federal prosecutors have said Baisden’s decision cost Appalachian Tire tens of thousands of dollars.

The Charleston Gazette (https://bit.ly/1cAKrBN) reports the agreement reached with prosecutors Thursday calls for Baisden to pay $5,489 to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and $2,236 to Appalachian Tire. He’ll make monthly payments over three years.

Baisden, 66, of Delbarton, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 29 in federal court in Charleston. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His attorney, Jim Cagle, said in a sentencing memorandum this month that advisory guidelines call for a sentence between two years and 30 months.

Cagle is seeking probation, noting in the memorandum that Baisden has no salary, has lost his pension and has prostate cancer. The restitution agreement makes reference to Baisden’s “minimal disposable income and net worth.”

Baisden resigned from the commission a week after his guilty plea. He also was the county’s purchasing agent.

Federal prosecutors also mentioned Baisden but didn’t charge him in a separate investigation involving the late Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum.

Former Mingo County prosecutor Michael Sparks and ex-circuit judge Michael Thornsbury are awaiting sentencing in a scheme to keep Crum’s alleged prescription drug supplier and campaign sign maker, George White, from talking to the FBI about Crum, who was killed in April in an unrelated shooting.

Sparks has pleaded guilty to depriving White of his constitutional rights and Thornsbury has pleaded guilty to conspiring to deprive White of his rights.

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Information from: The Charleston Gazette, https://www.wvgazette.com