BERKELEY COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – According to the Berkeley County District Court, delegate-elect Joseph De Soto, the man accused of threatening to kill delegates, had his bail reduced Monday.
De Soto was initially held at the Eastern Regional Jail on a $300,000 cash bond. The Berkeley County District Court said Monday that the amount has now been reduced to $150,000 cash/surety, with the condition that he remain in home quarantine.
A criminal complaint said De Soto was enraged before the arrest and felt he was being attacked and forced out of his position.
According to the complaint, De Soto said on the phone that he was Del. Michael Hite (R-Berkeley), Del. Pat McGeehan (R-Hancock), Del. Chuck Horst (R-Berkeley) and Del. Bill would kill Ridenour (R-Jefferson) and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw (R-Clay).
The complaint said that when De Soto was asked what he meant, he said that God had called him to kill her.
According to the complaint, De Soto also sent emails between Tuesday and Wednesday. An email brought up Dels. Hite and Horst as well as Del. Wayne Clark (R-Jefferson) and Del. Joe Funkhouser (R-Jefferson). The email said he had “just begun… and will not stop.” “I had a vision of destroying them before the angel of Moroni,” the complaint states.
A text message was also sent in which one person asked De Soto to stop saying he would kill people, to which he replied: “I said I was going to kill people. “I said I would do whatever it takes to get her out of office,” the complaint says.
Before his arrest in the early morning hours of Dec. 12, De Soto switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, according to a spokesman for the West Virginia GOP. That could lead to a legal dispute over which party retains the House seat.
“The Republican Party could challenge this and say he was elected as a Republican and therefore it should be a Republican, so I’m sure there will be litigation,” said Tom Susman, political analyst for WMOV Radio. “If he runs as a Democrat, that means the Democrats in the caucus can now ask for roll-call votes, whereas since there were only nine, they couldn’t ask for roll-call votes.”
Sources told 13 News that De Soto is under investigation for allegedly falsifying his medical and military career information during his campaign. That’s why Republicans voted to expel him from the caucus.
He was elected to represent West Virginia’s District 91, which includes part of Berkeley County, in the 2024 general election.
