Defendant Sentenced to Prison Time for Obstruction of Justice in Virginia
ABINGDON, VIRGINIA – United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy announced yesterday that Ernest Julius Benko, 67, of Norton, Va., was sentenced to 15 months incarceration in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon, following his earlier guilty pleas to charges related to the obstruction of a federal criminal investigation.
Benko had entered a plea of guilty to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding and one count of conspiracy to cause false statements and obstruct an official proceeding.
According to evidence presented at his guilty plea hearing by Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee, between 2008 and 2013, Benko was employed as a private investigator, videographer, notary public, and a court reporter for the Circuit Court of Wise County, Virginia and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia.
During this time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Virginia State Police had an ongoing investigation regarding attorney Robert Stuart Collins’ involvement in the illegal possession and distribution of controlled substances.
In May 2009, Benko was hired by Collins to record sworn statements from individuals cooperating in the FBI and Virginia State Police’s investigation, in which the witnesses were told to falsely represent that Collins had no involvement in anything that was illegal or unethical.
The false statements were conducted in order to obstruct the criminal investigation into Collins. One of the witnesses, whose statement Benko recorded, was also told to falsely state that he had been threatened by an FBI agent in order to secure his cooperation in the FBI’s investigation.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Virginia State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, and the Southwest Virginia Drug Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee is prosecuting the case for the United States.
Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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