BRAXTON SHERIFF SAYS HE TRUSTED DELLINGER

(07/14/2007)
Thirty-year-old Christopher Shane Dellinger has been charged with illegally taking money from a Braxton County drunk driving program.

Braxton County Sheriff Howard Carpenter said Dellinger worked for the sheriff's department for about four years and resigned on his own before the allegations were made.

More recently, Dellinger was a volunteer police officer for the Town of Grantsville, where problems surfaced over Dellinger giving a Concealed Weapons Class reportedly without proper or approved credentials.

Those taking the class have apparently not been certified, nor have they had their money returned.

Carpenter told Charleston Newspapers "Everybody has employees, and you trust those employees to a certain degree...He was hired as a grant writer...As far as I know, there was no mention of anything wrong until this came up. You trust that officer to go out and do their job. You don't have an in-house person to check on them."

The charges were brought by West Virginia State Police Sgt. S.F. Trader.

The criminal complaint began because of an accusation that Dellinger was falsifying records or accounts.

The charges are felonies.