(Court Reports – Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

PARKERSBURG — The two remaining lawsuits against former Wood County Sheriff Steve Stephens have been settled, bringing the proceedings against him to a close. In dismissal orders filed June 25 in Wood County District Court, Pleasants County District Judge Timothy L. Sweeney ruled that the lawsuits filed by Clerk of Court Mark C. Harris and Deputy Timothy L. Allen, filed by their respective attorneys, “were resolved and dismissal was requested together…”
“It is ordered that (these) civil action(s) be struck from the register of this Court…”, the orders state. They involved the remaining claims against Stephens and the county from deputies and others who were under his command during his tenure as sheriff. Stephens retired and resigned effective Dec. 1, 2021. Attorney Todd Bailess of the Bailess Law Firm in Charleston, who represented Harris and Allen, said Wednesday the settlements were confidential and details would not be disclosed.
“We cannot comment on this,” he said. However, Bailess said no further action is expected in those two cases. Messages left for attorney Jeffrey S. Zurbuch of the Elkins firm Busch, Zurbuch & Thompson, who is representing Stephens, were not returned Wednesday. There have been four lawsuits in recent years accusing Stephens of inappropriate conduct and creating a hostile work environment. Three of the cases were assigned to Sweeney after judges in Wood County had to recuse themselves. Sweeney – whose jurisdiction includes Doddridge, Pleasants and Ritchie counties – was also assigned Deputy Sgt. Della Matheny’s lawsuit against Stephens, which accuses Stephens of inappropriate conduct. Harris filed suit against the former sheriff in late 2021 for emotional distress, claiming the sheriff pressured him to return to work as Harris used accumulated sick leave, vacation days and time donated by coworkers to care for his wife, who was diagnosed with cancer and died in September 2020. Allen had alleged that Stephens retaliated against him and treated him inappropriately because he was dating a female deputy, Tasha Hewitt. In the documents filed in Wood County District Court, Allen claims Stephens “insulted” him more than once about his relationship, threatened him with demotion and called Hewitt a “gender-specific derogatory term.” In the lawsuit, Allen said his career “has taken a turn for the worse”, when Stephens found out he was dating Hewitt in May 2019. Hewitt began working for the sheriff’s department in 2018 and the lawsuit alleges Stephens had a “Obsession” with her along with inappropriate touching and “insulting comments” to her. Hewitt filed her own lawsuit against Stephens and the county in federal court. It was settled in April for $105,000, according to Wood County officials. The lawsuit included claims of gender discrimination, retaliation, denial of due process and intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. On March 11, Sweeney approved a settlement between Matheny and the county commission, the Sheriff’s Department and Stephens. Under the terms of the agreement, Matheny was reinstated as a sergeant (after resigning in July 2021) and received $275,000 to settle the lawsuit.