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PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Commission has approved an additional prosecutor who will focus specifically on drug cases with the position being funded mostly from opioid settlement money for the next three years.
Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure appeared before the commission on Thursday to make the request.
"We want to be able to utilize some of the opioid funding and have someone directly focused on felony drug cases," Lefebure said.
Everyone in the community has been impacted by the opioid crisis in some way, he said.
"Our office has seen an increase in (felony) drug cases," Lefebure said. "In 2021, we had 386 (felony) drug cases, 412 (felony) in 2022, 385 (felony) in 2023 and there were 205 (felony drug cases) at the beginning of July this year.
"We are on track for a little over 400 for this year. It has caused a significant increase in the number of cases in my office."
Because of drugs, they are seeing other crimes as well, including burglaries as well as child abuse/neglect cases that are related to drug abuse, he said.
Lefebure is asking for a "significant" salary for the new prosecutor at $100,000 a year which comes out to around $144,000 a year once all of the benefits are figured in.
He initially asked for a period of five years, but said three years "would help out my office significantly."
Lefebure said it is hard to find qualified attorneys right now.
One of the reasons he is asking the commission for a higher salary for this position is that he wants to hire someone who is experienced in dealing with and prosecuting these types of cases.
Lefebure said fentanyl and meth are the primary drugs they are seeing in the area.
"It is a significant problem in the area and across the state," Lefebure said.
The attorney would also work directly with the Wood County Narcotics Task Force as they know more about who are the dealers and who are the addicts.
"They would have a greater hand in resolving those cases appropriately," Lefebure said. "That will be who needs to go to prison and who needs the opportunity for treatment."
This area ends up with a lot of people on parole because there are services here those people can't get in other parts of the state, he said, adding some succeed at treatment and others relapse and they end up out on the local streets.
"We have services," he said. "We have treatment centers and outreach programs. We do provide a lot of services many of the smaller counties just don't do and don't have the capabilities to do and they end up here.
"Some are successful and some are not and those increase the crime in the community."
Local officials have discussed the need to send some of these people back to where they come from or release them into the custody of family or someone who can help them.
However, officials said that many of those family members have tried to turn their loved one around and won't, with many not wanting to deal with it anymore.
Lefebure said he is scheduled to appear before the next Parkersburg City Council meeting to request funds from the city to help pay for this position which would offset the county's cost.
He is also looking at grants and other funding that might help offset those costs. He is also looking for a new Victim's Advocate as one has taken a new position elsewhere. He said a new legal assistant will eventually have to be hired to handle the additional case load in the office. Also, the office space will be reconfigured for an additional office to be created.
The commission unanimously approved the new assistant prosecutor position for three years.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com