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WELLSBURG -- Pleas were entered Wednesday by a Wellsburg man accused of threatening an off-duty Weirton police officer, and a Slovan, Pa., man accused of entering a Washington Pike area home to steal firearms.
Donald Humberson, legal counsel for Thomas Wetterau, 28, of Wellsburg, told the court his client maintained his innocence before Wetterau entered an Alford plea of guilty for a charge of wanton endangerment.
Also known as a Kennedy plea, the plea is used when a defendant maintains his or her innocence but there is evidence that could influence a jury to find that person guilty if the case were to go to trial.
Brooke County Prosecutor Joseph Barki III said the charge stems from a July 10, 2022, incident in which Wetterau allegedly lifted his shirt to reveal a handgun to an off-duty Weirton police officer while making a threatening statement outside a Weirton business.
He said Wetterau knew who the officer was.
A plea agreement submitted on Wetterau's behalf included the dismissal of charges of harassment, violating another's civil rights and child neglect, the latter filed because Wetterau's children were present.
For the charge of wanton endangerment, Wetterau faced one to five years in prison or up to one year in prison and a fine of $250 to $2,500.
Through the plea agreement, Wetterau, who has been incarcerated since his arrest, will serve the remainder of his five-year sentence on electronically monitored home confinement.
It was noted that while he will be eligible for parole on Feb. 14, as he would if he were to remain in jail, such parole, if granted, must include the supervision of a probation officer for two years.
Barki said the plea agreement was supported by the officer because it means Wetterau, as a convicted felon, will be prohibited from possessing a firearm.
First Judicial Circuit Court Judge Ronald Wilson said he was accepting the plea only because the officer supported it.
Also on Wednesday, Roy Neil, 40, of Slovan, Pa., pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit a burglary and was sentenced to three years of supervised probation through a plea agreement reached by his attorney, Braden Noon, and the prosecutor's office.
A Brooke County grand jury indictment against Neil alleged he and William Bish, 54, of Wheeling entered a Washington Pike area home on March 29 and stole firearms and other items valued at more than $1,000.
A case against Bish is pending in circuit court.
Wilson advised Neil he will be required to pay related court costs and costs for his probation, the conditions of which include abstaining from alcohol use and possession of a firearm.