Virginia attorney charged with distributing drugs at Washington County
Washington County VA Feb 15 2018
An Abingdon, Virginia, attorney has been charged with distributing drugs at the Washington County Courthouse, authorities said Wednesday.
George “Chip” Ed Barker Jr., 57, of Meadowview, Virginia, was arrested and charged with felony selling, giving, or distributing Suboxone, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Last Thursday, Feb. 8, Deputy Jon Cumbow, who was working court security, saw a folded paper being passed from Barker to his client in the circuit courtroom, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Sheriff Fred Newman said circuit court was in session, and the attorney and his client were at the counsel table.
Cumbow later took the folded paper from the client, identified only as an inmate, after the court hearing to inspect it for the safety of the inmate and the jail, Newman said. The deputy found that it was a business card that had been altered. Concealed in the card, the deputy discovered a Suboxone strip, the sheriff said.
Suboxone is a narcotic used to treat pain, as well as addiction to narcotic painkillers.
Police transported Barker to the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon, where he was released on an unsecured bond.
“I am not guilty of this charge,” Barker said in a written statement late Wednesday.
The attorney said his client’s wife had asked him for a business card so she could write her phone number on it for him. She wrote the number on the card and handed what the attorney said he thought was the same card back to him. He said he noticed nothing unusual about the card and handed it to his client.
Minutes later, police arrested the attorney.
“According to the arresting officer, the security cameras in the courthouse show the wife handing me the altered card immediately before entering the courtroom,” Barker said. “To think I would ever risk my career for an inmate I barely know defies belief.”
Barker said he will fight the charge and prove his innocence.
“I’ve devoted my career to helping people in need fight for justice, now I’m seeing things from their side, and it’s a horrible experience,” Barker said.
On Wednesday, Sheriff’s Office Maj. Byron Ashbrook said the case remains under investigation.
Barker is listed as an active attorney with the Virginia State Bar.
Ned Davis, the bar’s counsel, said that because of the rules of confidentiality, he cannot confirm or deny whether the Virginia State Bar has received a complaint about an attorney or whether it is conducting an investigation.
However, Davis noted that the rules of professional conduct provide that a lawyer shall not commit a crime or other deliberately wrongful act that reflects adversely on a lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness to practice law.
A conviction or guilty plea to a felony, or to any other offense involving theft, fraud, forgery, extortion, bribery or perjury, results in the summary suspension of the attorney’s law license, and a show-cause proceeding before the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board to determine whether the attorney’s law license should be further suspended or revoked.
Barker has no criminal history, and the state bar has received no previous complaints about him, according to a search of its website.
Bristol Herald Courier
