Ex-Lawmaker Indicted on 48 Counts

Former Delegate Joe C. Ferrell, D-Logan, has been indicted on 48 federal county that allege such offenses as "bribery, vote buying and running illegal gambling rings in West Virginia and Kentucky," The Associated Press and others report.

A number of the charges involves Southern Amusement Co., Ferrell''s video lottery machine leasing business.

The indictment, handed up last week but unsealed Monday, is not Ferrell's first brush with the law, AP reports:

Ferrell had served three terms in the Legislature when he pleaded guilty in 1992 to illegal campaign spending. He had promised not to seek office again as part of his agreement with prosecutors. That proved non-binding because he had been convicted of only a misdemeanor, and he ran again in 1998 and won.

During another four-term stint as a delegate, the FBI raided Southern Amusement in June 2005. Later that year, federal prosecutors named him a "cooperating witness" in a vote-buying conspiracy case that successfully targeted then-Sheriff John Mendez and other Democratic officials on election fraud charges.

Others with coverage include The Charleston Gazette, which offers a copy of the indictment, and MetroNews.