U.S. Attorney’s Office July 09, 2013 • Northern
District of West Virginia (304) 234-0100
CLARKSBURG, WV—The chief of the Clarksburg Police Department
and one of his lieutenants have resigned in order to avoid being prosecuted for
federal criminal charges.
United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II announced
today that former Chief Marshall Goff and former Lieutenant Tim Smith have quit
the Clarksburg Police Department and thus will avoid being charged with civil
rights violations and for making false statements to federal agents. The
actions of Goff and Smith occurred after officers from their department
responded to a report of an alleged domestic battery in Clarksburg in April
2013 involving a city councilman. Goff and Smith became involved in the
response, and the actions that they took led to a separate investigation into
their handling of the case.
The resignations of Goff and Smith are effective
immediately, and both men are barred from ever seeking or accepting employment
as police officers again. Both men have also agreed to be cooperative and
truthful in the ongoing investigation into the handling of the response to the
alleged domestic battery.
A charge has been filed in the underlying domestic battery
case, and that matter is being handled in state court by a special prosecuting
attorney.
The case involving Goff and
Smith was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the West
Virginia State Police, BCI, both of which are members of the West Virginia
Public Corruption Task Force. If the public has any information regarding this
matter or other similar matters they ma ycall the public corruption hotline at
1-855-WVA-FEDS(1-855-982-3337) or send an e-mail to wvafeds@usdoj.gov.