St. Paul’s ex-mayor pleads guilty

The former mayor of St. Paul, in Wise County, pleaded guilty yesterday to obstructing justice. He admitted that he barred town police officers from patrolling certain areas, freed suspects from custody and locked officers out of their evidence room.

William Jackson Kiser, 70, was fined $2,000 and given a two-year jail sentence, with the jail time suspended. He pleaded guilty in Wise County Circuit Court to two misdemeanors, obstruction of justice and the fraudulent destruction of records.

Kiser served as mayor of the Appalachian town, population 1,000, from 2000 to 2008. Wise prosecutor Ronald K. Elkins said Kiser is barred under state law from ever again holding an office of public trust in Virginia.

"All I want is for the town of St. Paul to be run professionally," Elkins said yesterday after Kiser's guilty pleas.

Kiser is a member of the State Water Control Board.

The pleas culminate a three-year investigation that also resulted in voter-fraud charges against four Southwest Virginia residents. Two pleaded guilty, one is awaiting trial and the fourth is considered a fugitive from justice. In May 2008, Kiser lost his re-election bid by three votes.

Elkins said Virginia State Police began investigating the mayor after town police officers complained that tickets they had written were disappearing.

The investigation and grand jury testimony disclosed that the mayor ordered officers to stay out of some neighborhoods, took away the keys to the evidence room, tore up summonses they had written and released people from custody.

At one point, he told officers "to stay off the roads and stay in the Town Hall where they belonged," according to one court document.

Elkins said he still does not know why Kiser governed the way he did. Kiser could not be reached for comment, but his attorney, Richard Kennedy, said in a closing statement in court that Kiser "has made a couple of mistakes. He has admitted to those mistakes and accepted full responsibility for them. He's ready to put this behind him and move on."

Contact Rex Bowman at (540) 344-3612 or .