By Sarah Mansheim
One of the Democratic candidates for Greenbrier County Commission has spent a weekend in jail for contempt of court.
Bradley “Brad” W. Tuckwiller was remanded to the custody of the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department on Friday, Feb. 26, and transported to the Southern Regional Jail in Beckley. He was released on Monday, Feb. 29.
According to court documents, Tuckwiller was held in contempt of the Family Court of Greenbrier County by Special Family Court Judge Matthew D. England. The commitment order states that Tuckwiller was previously found to be in contempt of court on Mar. 27, 2015 and on Oct. 30, 2015. The contempt order stems from a Dec. 5, 2014 family court order regarding property division.
“To date, the Respondent has not purged himself of contempt and has consistently and contumaciously refused to abide by the orders of this court,” England’s order stated. The order said that Mr. Tuckwiller could “purge himself of said contempt by transferring the funds in question, which he has misappropriated, to the Petitioner.”
England issued an order of release on Monday, with the order that Mr. Tuckwiller “provide to the Court and Petitioner’s counsel any and all accountings regarding the misappropriated funds as request (sic) by the Petitioner,” and to retrieve the “funds and transfer them to his counsel for disbursement.”
A telephonic status hearing to review Mr. Tuckwiller’s compliance is scheduled for Apr. 7.
On Tuesday, Mr. Tuckwiller issued the following statement via email to the Mountain Messenger:
“Although we’ve been divorced for more than a year, Lynn and I have been unable to complete the property settlement, i.e. buy her equity in our residence, which is for sale but I would like to keep. This hearing was the third of similar hearings over the last several months at which I’ve been given the options of providing X or Y. I am unable to provide X, as it is dependent upon other parties over which I do not have control. My attorney and I thought we had provided Y previously, basically bank statements and other documents, but the other side contended that our documents are incomplete. Family Judge England agreed and ruled that I was in contempt of court for not having provided what they want. There has not been guidance as to what they want so I’m at a loss for what to do next. Nevertheless, the judge agreed that I was lacking and deemed me in contempt of court. I was unexpectedly sent to Southern Regional Jail until he released me Monday morning.
On the bright side, I gained first-hand knowledge of what Greenbrier County is getting for the $60,000/month we pay the Regional Jail Authority. We need to find a way to reduce that expense before it breaks the county’s budget.”
Brad Tuckwiller is represented by attorney Paul S. Detch in the matter; Lynn Tuckwiller is represented by Attorney Alyson A. Dotson.
