A special prosecutor will decide whether to charge a pair of former Abindgon-based magistrates accused of falsifying documents to steer bail bonds to a family member.
Washington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Dennis Godfrey said Monday that a Virginia State Police investigator handed over the case Thursday.
Prosecutors are picking up the case a little more than a month after a Bristol Herald Courier investigation linked tampered court documents to the two magistrates and to a single bail bondsman.
The bondsman, J.C. Mullins Jr., of Abingdon Bail Bonds, is currently under investigation by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, which licenses and regulates the profession.
Godfrey said he will pass the magistrates’ case to an outside prosecutor with no ties to this area.
“I want to avoid any appearance of impropriety ... since I often work with the magistrate’s office,” Godfrey said, noting that a special prosecutor might be found by Friday.
The June 28 Herald Courier article detailed how John C. “Tiny” Mullins III falsified court records the evening of April 18, 2008, and early the next day to hide questionable dealings with his father, J.C. Mullins.
To cover up his involvement, the son used fellow magistrate Norman Dayton Harris’ electronic computer signature to sign three separate bail bond forms to release from jail three defendants awaiting a court hearing.
Each time, the freed defendant hired Tiny Mullins’ father, J.C. Mullins Jr., of Abingdon Bail Bonds.
Harris admits giving Tiny Mullins the computer pass code to the electronic signature.
The Virginia Supreme Court, which oversees the state magistrate system, fired Tiny Mullins and forced Harris to retire in May, three weeks after the newspaper first sought public documents relating to the scheme.
mowens@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2549
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