KINGWOOD — Terra Alta’s mayor has been charged again, this time for allegedly turning his own water back on after the town stopped service.
Robert A. DeLauder, 55, was freed on $1,500 bond Tuesday. He was charged with procuring water by device with intent to defraud and destruction of property, both misdemeanors.
It’s the latest in a string of charges brought by the county prosecutor against DeLauder. All are still pending.
According to a criminal complaint by State Police Trooper J.L. Anglin, the water service at DeLauder’s Caldwell Street address was turned off by the Terra Alta Water Works for nonpayment. A lock was placed on the service point.
DeLauder made a payment of $129.71 about 4:51 p.m. Monday. He asked to have his water turned back on but was told water company employees clock out at 3 p.m. and the lock could not be removed until about 8 a.m. the following day, according to the complaint.
DeLauder allegedly told a water company employee that he would cut off the lock himself and turn the water on. When workers went the next morning to remove the lock, they found it had been removed with a grinder, according to the complaint.
Earlier this month, DeLauder was charged with assaulting a government employee.
According to that criminal complaint, in June DeLauder blocked Terra Alta Recorder John Trembly’s vehicle in the town hall parking lot.
The mayor then “assaulted John Trembly by physically threatening to commit a violent injury to him,” according to the complaint. Trembly drove across a strip of grass onto W.Va. 7 while DeLauder “was chasing him, shaking his fist at him and yelling expletives at him,” according to the complaint.
In October, DeLauder was indicted on a charge of damaging or destroying telecommunications or cable service. The indictment stemmed from a criminal complaint filed in August, which said that on June 3 or 4, DeLauder entered town hall and damaged the Prodigi box inside a closet connected to council chambers.
He allegedly removed the power line and damaged the phone-wiring block, interrupting phone and internet service that night, according to that complaint.
Also in August, DeLauder was charged with falsifying his request for a public defender. The complaint said he failed to list his salary as mayor and listed zero income. That charge was false swearing and perjury.
TWEET@DominionPostWV
