Alderman “Bubber” West not indicted
Published 11:45 am Saturday, April 14, 2007
All the indictments from the last grand jury session have been handed out, and Alderman Theodore “Bubber” West was not on the list.
West, who was arrested on charges of four counts of felony false pretense in January, waived both his preliminary hearing and arraignment. His case was handed over to the grand jury.
“It was a matter of me finding out exactly where the errors were, and we corrected those errors,” West said. “The system works. I’m just glad it’s behind me.”
District Attorney Ronnie Harper said legally he could not discuss the events in a grand jury, but he said that often, a grand jury wouldn’t indict someone who had written bad checks and paid back the money they owed.
“In 99 percent of cases, if a check is paid, there’s no indictment,” Harper said. “My interest, and the interests of my clients, is in recovering the money.”
Harper said the case would be presented to the grand jury, but they would be advised that the client had been repaid.
It was very rare for a grand jury to indict a defendant in a situation like that, he said.
“I can’t recall one case yet since I’ve been here where the jury has returned a true bill on someone who had paid,” he said.
West allegedly wrote checks for insufficient funds totaling $2,571.54 to companies from last April through September.
One check was allegedly written to the Natchez City Cemetery for $900 in August, and one to the Adams County tax collector for $509.55 in September.
Both the tax collector and the cemetery director said they had been repaid around March 15.
Had West been indicted and subsequently convicted of the felony, he would have been forced by state law to leave office.