Man free on $100,000 bond

Philip P. Meadors
A Shepherdstown man jailed since January 2008 on charges he embezzled money from the elderly woman for whom he served as caretaker, was ordered released Monday by Circuit Court Judge David Sanders Monday.
Philip P. Meadors, 57, was released Tuesday from Eastern Regional Jail in Martinbsurg. Sanders has set a $100,000 personal recognizance bond. The judge also ruled Meadors’ camper, a pickup, carpenter’s tools and personal identification be returned from police evidence.
Meadors was arrested Jan. 4, 2008, by Shepherdstown police. He was not indicted until Jan. 2009 for “embezzlement by misuse of power of attorney.” Police charge he took money from Dawn E. Beaumont, of 214 N. Princess St. Meadors counters he was her caretaker, took her for medical appointments, helped with errands and did work on her house, where she allowed him to park his camper.
A new trial date of Aug. 25 has been set, though Sanders said he is “taking under advisement” Meadors’ attorney Nicholas F. Colvin’s request to have the case dismissed after the state failed to provide in a timely manner all the documentation needed to defend Meadors in court.
A trial, in fact, was slated to go forth Tuesday. But during a Monday pretrial hearing at the Jefferson County Magistrate Court building in Charles Town (the Jefferson County Courthouse was undergoing air-conditioning repairs) Colvin made a motion for dismissal of the case.
Sanders did not uphold the motion immediately, but he did agree to continue the trial until August, noting the case was not ready for trial. He also noted Meadors sat in jail for a year before ever being indicted by a grand jury. Meadors, in fact, already has served the minimum 1-year sentence for a typical embezzlement charge and would have been up for parole eligibility twice by now, had he been convicted.