Former Altavista police chief convicted on 15 felonies

He entered Alford pleas — maintaining his innocence while acknowledging prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him — on 11 counts of forging public documents, one count of embezzlement and two counts of obtaining
drugs by fraud.

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A former Altavista police chief was convicted Wednesday of 15 felonies after a prosecutor said he bought pills for himself with department money and faked paperwork to cover it up. 

Kenneth I. Walsh Jr., 51, of Hurt, pleaded guilty to one count of forging public documents as part of a plea agreement in Campbell County Circuit Court. He entered Alford pleas — maintaining his innocence while acknowledging prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him — on 11 counts of forging public documents, one count of embezzlement and two counts of obtaining drugs by fraud. 

Judge John T. Cook ordered him to pay $6,800 in restitution. A sentencing hearing is set for 3 p.m. Oct. 5. In a summary of evidence that would have been presented in Walsh's July 20 jury trial, Bedford County Commonwealth's Attorney Wes Nance, special prosecutor in the case, described an elaborate scheme Walsh used to take money from the department's drug operations fund in 2014. The drug fund held money typically used in undercover "qualification buys" police do to build cases against dealers. 

The town allotted about $12,000 to the fund in its 2015 budget. Nance said the money dwindled to as low as $200, and witnesses would have testified there were no open drug cases or undercover buys to explain the depletion. 

Walsh placed Officer William "Rob" Haugh in charge of the drug fund and ordered him to falsify affidavits for the destruction of cocaine and marijuana, but Nance said no drugs were destroyed. Walsh also had Haugh sign off on receipts documenting payments to confidential informants, including a man who was incarcerated at the time of the alleged 2013 drug deal. 

Nance said other witnesses would have testified they dropped off pills to Walsh's home after he paid them, and he never inquired about the drugs' sources, a goal in undercover drug cases. Nance added Walsh's department cellphone records showed he had "routine and constant contact with these informants during this time." 

A Virginia State Police investigation began in February 2015 when Haugh and Altavista Police Capt. Barry Stocks came forward with two stacks of falsified documents. While there was evidence of "several dozen" falsified receipts for the drug fund, Nance said Haugh "only made these documents at the chief's request." Haugh has not been charged and could not be reached for comment Wednesday. 

He resigned from the department three months after the state police probe began. Walsh retired from the department in May 2015. He was indicted in September on one count of embezzling public funds and nine counts of forging public documents, and in January, he was indicted on two counts of obtaining drugs by fraud and eight more counts of forgery, bringing the total number of felony charges to 20. Nance agreed to drop the remaining five charges against Walsh in exchange for the plea deal. When Cook asked Nance why he agreed to the plea deal, Nance said Walsh's punishment was a "sufficient accounting" of his crimes. 

He also noted the difficulty of proving criminal intent without a paper trail and the case's complexity for jurors. A. David Hawkins, one of Walsh's attorneys, said his client admits to forging the one document related to his guilty plea, but he had a reasonable defense for the Alford plea charges. "Your honor, this is a paperwork case," Hawkins said, adding he believes prosecutors have no evidence proving Walsh did not destroy drugs listed in the affidavits for destruction. Cook accepted the plea agreement and ordered a pre-sentence report. Taking his attorneys' advice, Walsh declined to comment after the hearing Wednesday. "I think I've got to wait for the sentencing," he said.

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