Judge James investigation declared finished

SUPERIOR – Department of Justice personnel have announced the state’s investigation of Justice of the Peace Wanda James is now complete.

According to John Strandell, bureau chief of the Division of Criminal Investigation, the agents have finished the investigation and are preparing a case file. Once completed, the file will be reviewed.

Anastasia Burton, deputy communications director for the attorney general’s office, said the case file is headed to the prosecutor’s office for review. This was the only information they were allowed to release at this time.

There was no timetable for when the outcome of the review would be released.

In 2013, Court Attorney Marcia Boris requested James be investigated for possible involvement in missing court funds. In August, James entered voluntary administrative leave while the investigation took place.

At first it was estimated the investigation would be completed by the end of August or September. As the agents looked deeper, they had to extend the investigation to conduct more interviews.

During the investigation the Mineral County Commissioners signed a resolution to appoint substitute judges to handle the Justice of the Peace’s duties. The work was taken over by Kathleen Brown, Douglas Harkin, Sanders County Justice of the Peace Donald Strine and Plains City Judge Joe Eisenbrandt.

Recently Strine and Eisenbrandt had to leave the position to tend to their duties at home. To fill the void, the commissioners appointed Doug Sharkey as another substitute judge.