MERCER COUNTY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – On Wednesday, October 30, 2024, former attorney Phillip B. Ball, age 60, of Athens, West Virginia, was sentenced by Mercer County Circuit Court Special Judge Andrew Dimlich for his August 6, 2024, conviction of felony embezzlement. A Mercer County Grand Jury indicted Ball in October of 2023 for embezzling over $73,000.00 from an Estate that was being administered by the Mercer County Sheriff in 2015.
Judge Dimlich, a Raleigh County Circuit Court Judge sitting by appointment by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia as a special judge for Mercer County, sentenced Ball to 1-10 years in the West Virginia Penitentiary, suspended the sentence, and placed Ball on two years of supervised probation by the Mercer County Probation Department. According to Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Brian K. Cochran, who prosecuted Ball, Ball will be subjected to a 1–10-year prison sentence if he fails to comply with the terms of his probation.
The Embezzlement charge arises from when Ball was acting in his capacity as the attorney for the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department in 2015, assisting the Sheriff in the administration of a deceased Mercer County resident’s Estate. In March 2015, Ball illegally transferred over $73,000.00 of Estate assets into a private/personal account owned solely by Ball and his wife. Once these transfers were discovered in 2020, Federal and West Virginia State Bar investigations were initiated.
In July 2023, Ball’s license to practice law was annulled by the State of West Virginia. In August 2023, Cochran requested that the West Virginia State Police investigate Ball’s actions, leading to the October 2023 Indictment and subsequent sentence. Cochran commended the investigation by the West Virginia State Police and also thanked the FBI, the United States Attorney’s Office, and the West Virginia Office of Disciplinary Counsel for their assistance in the investigation and successful prosecution.
