By HEATHER PYLES, CJ Staff Writer
Commonwealth Journal
Somerset —
Five people who allegedly tried to bribe a local public official into releasing another person from jail pleaded not guilty to those charges in court yesterday.
Everett Hyden, 64, Noble Hampton, 63, Virginia “Carol” Hampton, 44, Walter Creekmore, 62, and Darmus “Bubby” Dalton, Jr., 44, all appeared in Pulaski District Court Friday for their arraignments before Special Judge Michael Loy, who presides in Adair and Casey counties.
Loy is presiding on the case to avoid a conflict of interest, which may have occurred had one of the local district judges presided.
All five are facing bribery charges in connection with what police say was a plot to bribe Pulaski County Commonwealth’s Attorney Eddy F. Montgomery to get an inmate out of prison.
Normally, Montgomery might have been the one to prosecute the case, but he was made ineligible to do so because of his status as primary witness on the case. Todd Lewis and Jeff Prather from the AG’s special prosecutor’s office are handling the case. Lewis or Prather were not in attendance during Friday’s arraignment hearings.
The Somerset Police Department undertook a four-day investigation after they were contacted by Montgomery early on Monday, June 7.
According to Det. Lt. Shannon Smith, at about 8:45 a.m. on that Monday, Montgomery was approached outside his office at 126 S. Main Street by Hyden, who allegedly made Montgomery an offer — $20,000 in cash if Montgomery could secure the release of Brandon Compton, 28.
Compton is the grandson of Noble Hampton and daughter of Virginia Hampton. Creekmore is Noble Hampton’s nephew, and allegedly the man who actually contacted Hyden about arranging the deal, while Dalton is Virginia Hampton’s boyfriend. All of them were allegedly involved in making the bribery plot a reality.
Dalton was arrested a few days after the others, on Wednesday, June 16.
According to police, Montgomery asked Hyden to write his name on a piece of paper that the suspect was trying to slip to Montgomery with Compton’s name written on it. Montgomery then contacted Somerset Police Department and informed them of what had happened.
Several phone conversations were conducted between Montgomery and Hyden, according to SPD, and were recording by detectives. The sting culminated in Hyden’s arrest June 10 after he allegedly showed up at Montgomery’s office to receive a hoped-for $2,000 kickback.
All five individuals were charged with bribery of a public servant, a class C felony. If convicted, the penalty is five to 10 years in prison.
Hyden, Noble Hampton, Virginia Hampton, Creekmore, and Dalton all pleaded not guilty to those charges on Friday.
Dalton is being represented in the case by Scott Foster and Virginia Hampton is being represented by Robbie Norfleet.
Noble Hampton told Loy he had retained Jim Cox as his representation. Creekmore is reported to have retained attorney Brandon Storm, from Laurel County, and Hyden has yet to secure representation, but he told Loy during his hearing that he is in contact with a lawyer.
Loy set a preliminary hearing for each defendant for Friday, July 2 at 1:30 p.m.
