MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – Berkeley County Sheriff Nathan Harmon has pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of obstructing a law enforcement officer.
The guilty plea, which was entered Monday, December 11th, is part of a plea deal offered to Harmon by the special prosecutor in the case.
As part of the plea agreement offered by Prosecutor Dan James, Harmon admits he obstructed Deputy William Henderson’s investigation into Harmon’s daughter Carrie’s crash January 6th of this year. It is alleged the sheriff called another deputy to the scene who performed a breath test on the younger Harmon that showed her blood alcohol content was above the legal limit.
The plea deal requires Sheriff Harmon to “provide a factual representation of how he interfered with Deputy Henderson’s investigation, which shall include a statement he contacted (former) Deputy Matthew Larsen by cellphone, requesting he respond to the crash scene with a portable breath test (PBT).
Further, that Mr. Larsen administered the PBT to his daughter at Mr. Harmon’s request, and that said result indicated that she had an alcohol concentration in her system above the legal limit of eight-hundredths of one percent or more by weight (.08 BAC). Additionally, that Mr. Harmon did not share this information with Deputy Henderson thereby hindering his investigation.”
The plea agreement requires Sheriff Harmon to resign from his position. Harmon’s last day will be December 26th.
Until that time, the sheriff is prohibited from changing any of the duty assignments of the deputies in the department. Instead, those decisions, as well as hiring, or termination decisions, will be handled by Chief Deputy Tom Young.
As part of the plea agreement offered by the state, Sheriff Harmon will be required to pay a fine of $500. Three other misdemeanor charges will be dismissed.
The plea agreement further requires the sheriff to disclose the obstruction conviction to a prospective employer should he seek employment “in which he would be engaging in the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution, or incarceration of persons for violations of the law,” even if the conviction is expunged.
The guilty plea was filed Monday in the case, which was being handled in Berkeley County Circuit Court Judge Laura Faircloth’s court.
Harmon has said he intends to speak out about the charge once he gets the green light from his attorney, which he says will “reveal the Truth about what occurred, why it occurred and the weaponization of the judicial system that has occurred.”
