WEST VIRGINIA
Clinton Herald
PRINCETON, W. Va. — As rows of victims and their family members watched in stoic silence, a former church volunteer quietly uttered the word “guilty” when asked how he was pleading to a myriad of child sexual abuse charges.
Timothy Probert, 57, of Princeton, pleaded guilty Monday morning to 37 charges related to the sexual abuse of teen boys while he served as an elder and youth volunteer at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bluefield, West Virginia and as a mentor for a program working to eliminate child abuse.
Probert’s plea brought an end to a more than two-year legal struggle that roiled a small city near the Virginia border and saw three judges recuse themselves from the case due to conflicts of interest.
Probert entered the plea before retired Fayette County Judge Charles Vickers, who was assigned to the case in 2015 after Mercer County Circuit Court judges Omar Aboulhosn, Derek Swope and William “Bill” Sadler recused themselves. According to the Bluefield, West Virginia Daily Telegraph, all three judges signed a letter to the West Virginia Supreme Court citing conflicts of interest. Steve Canterbury, administrative director for the high court, told the Daily Telegraph there were no additional details as to the specific conflicts of interest.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.