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State pension on line after Cowden verdict

Retired Hancock County sheriff’s Lt. Mark Cowden could lose his state pension as a result of his conviction on a deprivation-of-rights charge on Monday.

Cowden, 51, of Weirton, retired from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department with 26 years of service in May 2015 — four months after the incident that resulted in his prosecution for excessive use of force.

A Wheeling jury found Cowden guilty of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law in connection with his handling of the booking of drunken driving suspect Ryan Hamrick on Jan. 27, 2015. Prosecutors said Cowden pushed Hamrick, 37, into the wall and punched him while escorting him in the lobby of the Hancock County Courthouse.

Cowden, the Republican candidate for Hancock County sheriff, said the force he used was proportional to the resistance he received from Hamrick and that Hamrick’s injuries were the result of his earlier DUI arrest by West Virginia State Trooper Michael Hoder.

Conviction on a felony charge related to one’s job duties is grounds for the pursuit of a Less Than Honorable Service claim by the West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board, said Executive Director Jeffrey Fleck.

The state CPRB, which administers nine retirement plans for public employees, likely will take the matter up at its Nov. 16 meeting, Fleck said.

“If found guilty of Less Than Honorable Service, (Cowden) would cease to become an annuitant. He would receive a refund of his contributions (to the retirement plan), plus interest, and then cease to be a member at that point,” he said.

Sheriff’s deputies contribute 8.5 percent of their pay toward their retirement, plus whatever they receive from the county. Cowden, a member of the Deputy Sheriffs’ Retirement System, qualified for full benefits when he retired because his age and years of service totalled at least 70.

Fleck said Cowden no longer would receive his monthly benefit if the Less Than Honorable Service claim is approved by the board. The claim must come in the form of a recommendation from the board’s in-house legal counsel, he said.

Although the employer contribution would cease, the employee contribution, plus interest, would go to Cowden as a lump-sum payment, Fleck said.

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