CHARLESTON – Already facing a state investigation, a Hardy County circuit judge faces new disciplinary charges related to shoplifting items from a Walmart.
According to the Formal Statement of Charges filed February 14 by the state Judicial Investigation Commission, Hardy Circuit Judge C. Carter Williams left the Moorefield Walmart on August 18, 2021, without paying for 10 or so items in his cart.
Williams told authorities it was a mistake, and he apparently later paid for the items. But at least one similar incident had happened with him earlier at the same store.
Williams was the subject of another JIC Formal Statement of Charges last year after he verbally accosted a Moorefield police officer who had pulled him over for allegedly using his cell phone while driving and abusing his power. Body cam footage of that incident is online. Williams is contesting that charge, and the litigation is ongoing.
Back to the latest statement of charges, Moorefield Police Chief Stephen Riggleman says Walmart video surveillance footage showed Williams using the store’s self-checkout area. He was scanning, bagging and placing bagged items into his cart.
“Williams is then observed pushing his shopping cart out of the store without making any attempts to pay for the items,” the filing states. “It was determined that the best course of action would be to contact Williams and direct him to pay for the merchandise.
“It should also be noted that approximately one year ago, a similar incident occurred with Williams at the Moorefield Walmart where he and his wife had pushed out a substantial amount of merchandise without paying. It was determined that neither party realized that the other had not paid for the items.”
Riggleman says he didn’t learn of the August 18 incident until September 13 when he was at the Walmart investigating an unrelated shoplifting incident. A store associate told him about the Williams incidents. The associate told Hardy County Prosecuting Attorney Lucas See that Williams contacted her September 14 saying he wished to pay for the items and that it was a mistake. Payment was accepted in lieu of charges being filed.
When this August 18 incident occurred, Williams was under investigation by the JIC for the previously filed complaint. Among the allegations investigated was a July 21, 2020, incident where Williams also left the same Walmart without paying for items in his shopping cart. The latest charges includes a note from Riggleman about that incident.
“Contacted Carter concerning the matter,” Riggleman wrote in his note. “Asset protection associate admitted that upon reviewing the incident, Walmart determined it to be accidental and no charges were filed.”
The JIC was told the amount of the items in Williams shopping cart in the July 21, 2020, incident was about $300 and that another individual was with him.
When asked about that 2020 incident during the first investigation on October 6, 2021 (just a few weeks after the latest incident), Williams said it actually had been a couple of years earlier and that his wife wasn’t with him. He said he started talking a Walmart employee he knew and thought he had paid with his debit card. He even grabbed a receipt he thought was his for exactly $52.
“The next day, I got a call from Walmart and they said that I hadn’t paid,” Williams testified. “So, I thought, ‘Oh my God,’ (and) I rode back up and paid.”
The latest charges also note Williams never disclosed the latest incident when he was being questioned in relation to the first charges. The first time Riggleman disclosed the August 18, 2021, incident to the JIC was during an interview on February 10, 2022.
Retired Moorefield Detective Steven Reckart also was interviewed. From 2019 until his retirement in June 2021, he handled most Walmart shoplifting incidents for the police department. He confirmed the 2020 incident and said he didn’t know of other previous incidents.
But, the JIC investigated revealed a text exchange between Williams and the Walmart asset protection associate dated August 1, 2019. It says Williams apologized and paid for the items mistakenly taken then.
“An email notation written by respondent (Williams) just above the test message exchange states, ‘See text. I thought 2020 sounded too recent. It happened in 2019.’”
The final paragraph of the latest formal statement of charges says Williams has the right to file a response within 30 days of service.
Williams was licensed to practice law in the state on September 23, 1991. He was elected to an eight-year term on the 22nd Judicial Circuit in 2016. He took office January 1, 2017.
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals case number 21-0878 (JIC complaint number 12-2022)