Photo courtesy of WV Supreme Court of Appeals Third Judicial Circuit Court Judge Tim Sweeney.

CHARLESTON — Third Judicial Circuit Court Judge Tim Sweeney was one of two judges admonished by the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission last week after drawing attention to issues within Child Protective Services.

The Judicial Investigation Commission (JIC) issued an admonishment against Sweeney on June 12, accusing him of violating four rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct. including violations of related to public statements and social media activity concerning an ongoing child abuse and neglect case. The admonishment was first reported by the West Virginia Record.

Despite the alleged violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct, the JIC found the formal discipline against Sweeney was not necessary given Sweeney’s impeccable judicial record, choosing instead to publicly admonish Sweeney.

In an order issued on Feb. 3, Sweeney appointed several state Department of Human Services and Bureau of Social Services officials to report to the Ritchie County Courthouse on Feb. 20 and receive assignments as Child Protective Services workers.

Officials ordered to appear were new DoHS Cabinet Secretary Alex Mayer, Deputy Commissioner Laurea Ellis, special consultant Kim Ricketts, General Counsel Chanin Krivonyak, and Bureau of Social Services Commissioner Lorie Bragg.

Sweeney conducted interviews with The Parkersburg News and Sentinel and WV MetroNews regarding this order. Sweeney later canceled the order after meeting with Mayer and working out an agreement.

In February, Sweeney said the order was meant to get the attention of DoHS, citing increased caseloads for the few CPS workers serving the counties in his judicial circuit. In a statement Thursday evening, Sweeney said he would accept his admonishment, though he did not agree with it.

“I respectfully disagree with the JIC decision,” Sweeney said. “My intention was and continues to be the welfare of children. I’m grateful to Steven Adams and MetroNews for shining the light on this issue.”

The order was the result of an October 2024 abuse and neglect hearing before Sweeney where the judge ordered a child be placed in an out-of-state treatment facility. According to the admonishment, the case fell through the cracks and local CPS workers did not meet certain deadlines.

Sweeney held a hearing on Feb. 3 to determine why the deadlines had not been met, with a county prosecuting attorney, the child’s attorney, a guardian ad litem, two probation officers, and two CPS workers in attendance. The CPS workers testified that they were “overworked and understaffed,” using threat assessments to triage cases based on “who was safe and who wasn’t.”

Besides handling cases in Doddridge, Pleasants, and Ritchie counties, the CPS workers testified that they were also handling child abuse and neglect cases in Lewis and Upshur counties.

“One of the workers testified that the worker assigned the child’s case had (100) families on her caseload when the average should be no more than (10),” the report stated. “One of the workers also asked (Sweeney) to help them obtain more staff.”

During the hearing, Sweeney discussed the possibility of civil contempt charges against state DoHS and child welfare officials in order to bring attention to the severity of the CPS staff shortages and workload.

“Maybe we need the commissioner’s name so that I can sign a civil contempt order today to require the commissioner to be incarcerated until this situation is rectified,” Sweeney said. “Maybe if it gets in…various news feeds, the Legislature might recognize something and realize this is a situation that needs to be addressed.

“My concern is this: If I just sit around and these things are not happening and I don’t do anything, am I doing my job? Am I part of the solution or part of the problem,” Sweeney continued. “…The buck kind of stops here.”

A complaint was opened against Sweeney on Feb. 10, accusing Sweeney of not providing the DoHS officials with notice prior to conducting his media interviews. Sweeney provided JIC officials a sworn statement on May 21, denying any impropriety for talking to the press. Sweeney also denied releasing any confidential information from the abuse and neglect case that led to the Feb. 3 order. Sweeney believed he was in his legal authority in his order to DoHS officials.

“Judges need to move heaven and earth to get these things done, and have been subject to criticism for not doing so,” Sweeney said in his sworn statement. “And I believed in the parameters of my administrative authority as a judge over (DoHS)…to require that to be done.”

Sweeney has been a circuit court judge since being appointed to the bench in 2010 by former Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and winning re-election multiple times, most recently in 2024. He served as Pleasants County prosecuting attorney between 1985 and 2010. He also served on the Lawyer Disciplinary Board.