GRAFTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — After being accused, and later acquitted, of robbery and escape charges regarding items being taken from a local Masonic Lodge, former Taylor County Board of Education President and County Sheriff, Clark Sinclair, has filed a civil suit claiming that false statements were made in his case.
In August 2024, Sinclair was accused of stealing a safe, among other items, from the Grafton Masonic Hall, with multiple people associated with the Hall claiming that he had no such permission to do so. A criminal complaint filed at the time claimed that the initial caller saw Sinclair unloading the safe from his truck at his home in Grafton.
Sinclair was charged with grand larceny at the time, with the charges being dismissed more than a year later.
According to the suit, filed on Sunday in Taylor County Circuit Court, Sinclair took the safe because he “reasonably believed” that it had been given to him by a prior Lodge Secretary. The suit added that he did so “openly, in broad daylight, without concealment, and under a good-faith claim of ownership.”
The suit claims that while removing the safe, no lodge officers approached him, questioned him or attempted to resolve the matter internally. Instead, they decided to contact one another, contact law enforcement and supply “false and/or misleading information that resulted in Mr. Sinclair being charged with grand larceny.”
As a result, Sinclair is seeking damages from the Grafton Masonic Lodge No. 15 and the...
A $2.3 million settlement in a False Claims Act case accusing a Texas acupuncturist of submitting inflated bills to the Department of Veterans Affairs is enforceable, the US Court of Appeals for t...