Ex-Mingo Prosecutor Pleads Guilty in Federal Case

A former Mingo County prosecutor has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge.
 
     Michael Sparks entered the plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Charleston. He faces a year in prison when he's sentenced Feb. 24.
 
     Sparks resigned in October after being charged in a scheme to protect former Sheriff Eugene Crum from revelations that Crum bought drugs.
 
     Crum was shot to death in April in an unrelated attack as he ate lunch in his vehicle.  
 
     Prosecutors say Sparks and others had hatched a scheme to keep Crum's alleged drug supplier and campaign sign maker, George White, from talking to the FBI about the late sheriff.
 
     Former Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to deprive White of his constitutional rights and has resigned from the bench.