A former Kanawha County home confinement officer admitted this week that he took $4,000 in cash in exchange for not reporting that a man under his supervision had violated his home confinement.
Jacques S. Vance pleaded guilty to one count of felony bribery in official and political matters before Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King on Monday afternoon.
Vance faces up to 10 years in prison, according to the agreement filed in the case. His plea was filed as part of an information document, which usually indicates that a defendant has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the case.
Vance also waived his right to a preliminary hearing and to have the facts of his case presented to a grand jury for possible indictment as part of his plea.
He is scheduled to be sentenced by King at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 31.
In the information, first assistant Kanawha prosecutor Don Morris said Vance accepted $4,000 in cash from Robert Henry Hebert Jr. between Oct. 7, 2015, and April 17, 2017. Hebert was serving home confinement under Vance's supervision at the time.
In exchange for cash, Morris said, Vance did not report Hebert's home confinement violations, according to the information document. The nature of those violations were not included in the information.
Per the plea agreement, prosecutors will not pursue additional charges stemming from Vance's conduct between October 2015 and June 22, 2017.
There was no other information about other misconduct by Vance in his case file in the Kanawha circuit clerk's office Tuesday morning.
Hebert pleaded guilty to felony possession with intent to deliver heroin in September 2015. His sentence of one to 15 years in prison was suspended in favor of two years of home confinement.
Between October 2016 and June 2017, three reports documenting home confinement violations by Hebert were filed against him. Two of them were reported by Vance.
In July 2017, while he was in South Central Regional Jail for violating home confinement, Hebert was accepted into a 28-day in-patient rehabilitation and substance abuse treatment program in Princeton, according to an order by Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Tod Kaufman.
Kaufman ordered Hebert released from prison to participate in the program. Per Kaufman's order, upon his completion of the program, Hebert was set to be placed on probation, instead of home confinement, for the remainder of his sentence for possession with intent to deliver, according to an order from Kaufman filed on Aug. 20.
Sgt. Brian Humphreys, a spokesman for the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office, said someone contacted the Kanawha County prosecuting attorney's office about Vance. The sheriff's office was directed to do an investigation of Vance. At the conclusion of the investigation, Vance was immediately fired and the results of the investigation were turned over to the prosecutor's office, Humphreys said.
Sheriff Mike Rutherford was out of town Tuesday, Humphreys said, and could not be reached for comment.
Staff writer Lori Kersey contributed to this report. Reach Lacie Pierson at 304-348-1723, lacie.pierson@wvgazettemail.com or follow @laciepierson on Twitter.