Complaint: More Than $14,000 Spent on Illegal Campaign Mailings Targeting Wheeling Municipal Election Candidates
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WHEELING -- A Wheeling man spent more than $14,000 with a Florida printing company on illegal campaign mailers sent out just days prior to the city's municipal election last year, according to the criminal complaint filed in Ohio County Magistrate Court.
Anand Avrind Patel, 41, of 30 Maple Avenue, Wheeling, has been charged with a total of 22 counts in the criminal case brought forth by an investigator from the West Virginia Secretary of State of State's office. Patel was summoned for an initial appearance before Magistrate Patricia L. Murphy on Thursday, when bail was set at $34,500.
Patel was released on personal recognizance bond and is scheduled to appear for a hearing on Aug. 7 before Ohio County Magistrate Kevin Stryker.
Patel is charged with two counts of making a false statement regarding a candidate, nine counts of publishing or circulating anonymous items supporting or aiding defeat of a clearly identified candidate in an election, nine counts of failure to report independent expenditures of more than $500 and two counts of failure to include a public notice for communication by independent expenditure.
Each charge is a misdemeanor. If convicted, the defendant could face a fine of up to $10,000 and/or no more than a year incarceration for each charge involving false statements; a fine of not more than $1,000 and/or jail of not more than a year on the charge of circulating anonymous election publications; a fine of not less than $500 and/or jail time of not more than one year for failure to report independent expenditures; and a fine of not less than $500 and/or jail time of not more than one year for failure to include public notice.
A total of more than 12,500 mailers were distributed by U.S. mail in May of last year ahead of the municipal election in Wheeling on May 14, 2024, when Denny Magruder defeated a crowded pack in the mayoral race.
Invoices for the nine mailers totaled $14,570.74, with separate invoices from each of the mailers totaling more than $500 -- instituting a criminal offense for each batch of mailers distributed, the criminal complaint indicated.
The complaint also noted that mailers listed a false local post office box number from Wheeling which belonged to Louis Smith, who was determined to have no knowledge of the mailers. Smith noted in May of last year, stacks of the illegal political attack mailers with "Return to Sender" stickers on them flooded his post office box, leaving him in disbelief.
Investigators from the West Virginia Secretary of State's office launched a probe into the mailers, none of which contained the required disclosures related to the sender and the source of the funding used to send them. According to the criminal complaint, the mailers contained a union icon from the Tampa Bay area of Florida and were mailed by first class U.S. postage paid by Gounion 33634.
"It was determined that the mailers were printed and distributed by Gounion Printing of St. Petersburg, Florida," the complaint stated.
Subpoenaed records from Gounion Printing showed that a total of nine different mailers that were ordered and distributed were linked to one account. According to the complaint, investigators verified that the contact information for the client associated with that account was "Nalini LLC, Anand A. Patel," along with Patel's personal email address and telephone number. Investigators also verified with Verizon Wireless that Patel placed a total of seven telephone calls to Gounion Printing in April and May 2024, according to the complaint.
According to the investigator from the W.Va. Secretary of State's office, his investigation led him to interview a number of the mayoral candidates and city council candidates mentioned in the negative campaign mailers.
Two of the mailers actually showed support for mayoral candidate Beth Hinebaugh and criticized her opponents, but according to the investigator, Hinebaugh had no knowledge of the origin of the mailers.
"Hinebaugh had no idea why mailers went out in support of her, other than to make it look like she was behind the anonymous mailers being sent," according to the complaint. "Hinebaugh stated that on several occasions, people had asked her why she put out the mailers."
Wheeling City Councilman Ben Seidler was attacked in one of the mailers claiming that there were multiple domestic violence calls to his residence. According to the investigator, he was able to verify with Ohio County 911 Director Teresa Russell that this was not true. Russell further verified that only one person had been making Freedom of Information Act requests regarding calls to Seidler's address -- Patel.
Mayoral candidate Rosemary Ketchum was the subject of another campaign mailer that allegedly contained false information. The mailer stated that, "Under Rosemary Ketchum's past leadership, WV Can't Wait has recruited Zach Shrewsbury for the U.S. Senate."
Ketchum stated that she did work for West Virginia Can't Wait in the past, but was not involved at the time and had nothing to do with interactions between the organization and Shrewsbury. The investigator also spoke with Shrewsbury, who verified that, although Ketchum subsequently endorsed his election bid, she did not recruit him and had no bearing on his decision to run.
Wetzel County Prosecutor Timothy Haught was appointed as special prosecutor in the criminal case against Patel, who according to court documents gave up his right to have an attorney represent him during Thursday's initial appearance in Ohio County Magistrate Court.
Patel had filed a motion to quash the criminal summons issued in this matter on the grounds that service had not been perfected pursuant to rules outlined in West Virginia Rules of Criminal Procedure for Magistrate Courts. That motion was denied, according to the court.
The sudden appearance of the mud-slinging campaign mailers in May 2024 took many people in the community by surprise -- including the candidates in city council races and the six-person mayoral race. All of the candidates who were named in the mailers ran considerably clean campaigns. They condemned the attack ads and denied any knowledge of their source.
The former operator of the Wheeling Inn on Main Street downtown, Patel has had friction with city leaders stemming back a few years prior to the last municipal election. A majority of Wheeling City Council members voted in the spring of 2022 to declare the old hotel as a public nuisance.
A 30-day undercover police investigation dubbed "Operation Knighthawk" at the Wheeling Inn -- or Knight's Inn of Wheeling -- took place in July 2021, resulting in 27 arrests and citations, the execution of seven search warrants and the seizure of illegal drugs and paraphernalia. The action to declare the Wheeling Inn a public nuisance was brought before city council by way of a memorandum compiled by Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger and presented by City Manager Robert Herron.
Patel had appeared before council and complained that information in the memorandum was "fabricated" in a way that inflated the number of criminal incidents that occurred on or around the hotel.
Then-Mayor Glenn Elliott abstained from all matters dealing with the public nuisance complaint against the Wheeling Inn, noting his "longstanding friendship with the hotel operator," Patel, would prevent him from being impartial.
However, a public nuisance hearing never took place on that matter after the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau purchased the property for $1.7 million and subsequently demolished it, making way for a planned Wheeling Gateway Visitors and Heritage Center that will showcase the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge that can be seen clearly now that the hotel has been razed.