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Justice on wrong side of history

West Virginia’s 155th birthday was a distinctly unpleasant occasion for suspended state Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry. While many of the rest of his fellow Mountaineers were celebrating, he was being arrested.

FBI agents took Loughry into custody on 22 charges contained in a federal indictment. He is accused of 16 counts of mail fraud, two of wire fraud, three of making false statements to a federal agent and one of witness tampering.

Almost undoubtedly, the accusations are a sequel to allegations made against Loughry by the state Judicial Investigation Commission. Earlier this year, it filed a 32-item complaint against him. Each of those specifications involves breaches of ethics rules.

Following the commission’s action, the high court itself suspended Loughry. Earlier this year, his four fellow justices removed him from the post of chief justice.

Criticism of Loughry began last year. It revolved around expensive renovations to Supreme Court offices at the state Capitol, including purchase of a $32,000 couch for the justice’s office.

Then came the news he had ordered an expensive desk removed from state property and taken to his home. Later, he had it returned. There also were questions about his use of state vehicles.

In reacting to all that, Loughry lied repeatedly to colleagues, legislators and law enforcement agents, it is being alleged.

Criminal investigations and prosecutions such as that involving Loughry can take years. Let us hope that is not the situation in this case. The sooner the matter can be resolved — and West Virginians can learn precisely what happened — the better.

Federal authorities’ timing in arresting Loughry may be considered by some to have been unfortunate. In a way, however, it was appropriate. West Virginia’s history is loaded with situations in which public officials abused the trust placed in them.

Ironically, Loughry wrote the book, or least a book, on that. Published in 2006, it was “Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia.” Now, it seems, Loughry may be about to add another chapter to the story.

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