D. Luke Furbee, prosecuting attorney, announced Tuesday that he has hired David Kelly as an investigator for the prosecutor’s office. Kelly is a retired law enforcement officer and the former Sheriff of Pleasants County.

Prosecuting Attorney D. Luke Furbee addressed the Tyler County Commission Monday to formalize a change in classification making him a full-time prosecutor. This measure is pursuant to section 7-7-4a of the West Virginia State Code.

Furbee also made a request to hire David Kelly as an investigator for his office, which was approved by the commissioners. Kelly is the former Sheriff of Pleasants County and a retired law enforcement officer.

“This is going to be a new position for us. We will spend a little bit of time figuring out what works and what doesn’t,” Furbee explained. “But this will help us do some things we weren’t able to do before. I’m glad we are going to be able to do this.”

Furbee explained the current investigation process. “A uniformed officer takes the initial complaint and generate a case report that is turned into my office. But when you have a small department like the sheriff’s office or the city departments like Sistersville and Paden City, oftentimes what happens is something comes up today, they deal with it today, turn in a bare bones report and then we go to court. Before I go to court, I look at the report and see that we need to look into XYZ or ABC. The problem with that is the unformed officer has already moved on to the next case”

“We had roughly 400 misdemeanor cases filed in Magistrate Court last year and more than 50 felonies filed, 20 abuse and neglect cases, thereabouts, on the docket. What I think an investigator is going to help us do is the things that the unformed officers don’t have time to do.”

Essentially, Kelly will be responsible for investigating and following up on cases for the prosecutor’s office. “A lot of things he does wont be seen or heard by the public,” Furbee said. “But it will allow us to do our jobs better.”

“I appreciate you giving us the ability to try this,” Furbee concluded.