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ELKINS -- A Barbour County man accused of conspiring to use a fraudulent check to buy two side-by-sides in Randolph County for more than $82,000 entered into a plea agreement.
Joseph Brian George, 54, of Philippi, pleaded guilty to one count of fraudulent schemes and one count of conspiracy, both misdemeanors. As part of the plea agreement, the state will recommend a sentence of probation with restitution.
George was initially indicted in June by a Randolph County grand jury on one count of fraudulent schemes and one count of conspiracy, both felonies.
During the hearing, George was represented by attorney Matthew Misfeldt, and the state was represented by Assistant Randolph County Prosecutor Colin Henning. Randolph County Circuit Judge Jaymie Wilfong presided over the hearing and accepted the plea agreement.
Henning gave the court the factual basis of the case against George. Henning said, on Oct. 4, 2024, Trooper Anthony Petrella with the West Virginia State Police Elkins Detachment responded to a call from Elkins Motor Sports and spoke to the owner. The owner told Petrella that, on Sept. 20, 2024, George and Thomas Griffith, the co-defendant in this case, came into the store and purchased two side-by-sides valued at a total of $82,833.88 with a check from Citizens Bank. The owner was later advised by Huntington Bank that the check did not clear and when he contacted Citizens Bank, they told him the account attached to the check was open and closed on the same day and that no money had ever been deposited into it.
Petrella was advised by another state trooper from Barbour County that one of the two side-by-sides was involved in a crash and had been recovered, and that he knew where the second side-by-side was, Henning told the court. Elkins Motor Sports further informed Petrella that, after the damage and recovery, the total loss was approximately $35,859.36.
Before accepting the plea, Wilfong asked George what made him guilty of fraudulent schemes and of conspiracy. George told the court that he took Griffith to Citizens Bank to open the bank account and that he had also signed off on the bank account. He said the account was supposed to be for a gas station business the two men planned to open and that they wanted to buy side-by-sides with plows for the parking lot of their future gas station.
George said he knew there was no money in the account, but that he believed that Griffith was going to transfer the money for the side-by-side into the Citizen’s Bank account from another bank in Tennessee. George also told the court that he then drove Griffith to Elkins Motor Sports where Griffith then gave the store the useless check for the side-by-sides. He said while he did not know the bank account was closed the same day it was opened, he did know there was no money in account when Griffith gave Elkins Motor Sports the check.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for George on Nov. 17 in Randolph County Circuit Court.