June 22, 2007 - In West Virginia, the Consolidated Retirement Board, has ordered that pension benefits be terminated for about 25 public employees who were convicted of felonies.
During the past three years, the board has ordered that pension benefits be terminated for about 25 public employees who were convicted of felonies. According to published reports, some of them — including a teacher who sexually assaulted two students — have appealed the rulings.Including county tax assessor Jerry Weaver.
Weaver, who had been assessor for 25 years, qualified for a state pension. But, by his own admission, he was involved in a vote-buying scheme for at least 14 of those years. Last year, he pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in federal court, and was sentenced to a year in prison.TT - Public employees, including teachers and school administrators, don't seem to be deterred by the possibility of jail time for their offenses. Maybe an economic slap would get their attention.
Retirement board members voted to revoke Weaver’s pension benefits — stipulating that he could receive any money he paid into the retirement program, but would not be paid out of contributions made to it by the Public Employees Retirement System. In other words, Weaver can get his money back — but taxpayers’ money will not be spent to pad his pension.
