WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

CHARLESTON - A Charleston attorney has reached a plea agreement in one set of drug-related charges filed against him last year.

In exchange for a plea of no contest to obstructing an officer, the Kanawha County Prosecutor's Office agreed to dismiss a charge of possession of a controlled substance against John W. Alderman III. In addition to the possession charge, two charges of failure to stop at a stop signal, and improper or defective equipment that resulted in Alderman being stopped late last Summer were also dismissed.

The charges, records show, came on Sept 1. after Alderman was stopped by a Kanawha County Sheriff's Deputy for running a red light at the intersection of U.S. 119 and Oakwood Road in Charleston. In the course of conducting the stop Cpl J.H. Thaxton discovered Alderman had in his Toyota Sequoia two homemade pipes under the gearshift, and one-and-a-half Xanax bars inside a cigarette pack.

After discovering the pipes, Thaxton placed them on the hood of his cruiser. When he continued to search Alderman's vehicle, Alderman threw the pipes off the Interstate bridge.

After other deputies arrived on the scene, Thaxton reviewed video from his on-board camera showing Alderman ditching the pipes.

On Jan. 11, Magistrate Pete Lopez sentenced Alderman to a suspended sentence of 30 days in jail, one year unsupervised probation and a fine of $209.50. As part of his agreement, Alderman was ordered to attend drug treatment and counseling.

When he was arrested in September, records show Alderman was on bond from drug charges filed against him three months earlier. On June 3, Alderman was charged with one count of simple possession of a controlled substance, and one count of possession with intent to deliver when Charleston police found both Aprazolam pills, and crack cocaine in a GMC Yukon Alderman was operating along the 2200 block of 7th Avenue in North Charleston.

Those charges are now bound over to the Kanawha County grand jury after Alderman waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Magistrate Court on Sept. 16.

Kanawha Magistrate Court, case numbers 09-M-10232-35 and 09-F-1217