| JAN. 6 (WCHS) â A former candidate for West Virginia attorney general and state Supreme Court has been jailed on an animal cruelty charge stemming from an alleged incident in Clay County in 2019.
Hiram Carson Lewis, 50, of Procious was booked Tuesday at the Central Regional Jail, where he was being held on an $8,800 bond on charges of cruelty to animals and animal abandonment in Clay County.
A $5,000 bond was listed for Lewis from charges in Roane County, but those charges were not immediately available.
The criminal complaint filed in Clay County said the charges stem from an incident reported Dec. 1, 2019, in which a resident in Orma, Calhoun County, contacted the sheriffâs office and said a horse belonging to Lewis had been abandoned on Lewisâ property.
According to the complaint, the resident said neighbors had not seen Lewis for about three weeks and the resident had been feeding and caring for the horse while the resident stayed at a camp near Lewisâ property.
The complaint said a deputy made multiple attempts to locate Lewis and had no success.
Lewis previously made unsuccessful runs for attorney general and Supreme Court. Media reports indicate he was charged with malicious wounding and wanton endangerment in 2012, but he was acquitted of those charges. He said in media reports he never should have been arrested and was trying to defend himself.
HIRAM LEWIS ARRESTED FOR INTIMIDATING STATE WITNESS - Clay Sheriff Presses Charges
November 20, 2012 -
A former Republican candidate for attorney general and West Virginia Republican Party treasurer Hiram Lewis is in trouble with the law again.
Lewis has been arrested for intimidating Clay County Sheriff Randy Holcomb, a state witness, by the sheriff himself.
Lewis allegedly told Sheriff Holcomb that he and a trooper were the only two witnesses left to testify against him.
The third witness would have been fallen trooper, Corporal Marshall Bailey. Lewis allegedly said, according to the sheriff, he believed Bailey was killed in the line of duty because of the "wrongdoing Bailey had done to him."
Lewis told media he considers Holcomb a friend and that he never tried to intimidate him.
Lewis, an attorney, was recently indicted on charges of malicious wounding, domestic assault and wanton endangerment involving a firearm.
He was arrested in June by the West Virginia State Police after he admitted to shooting Stephen Bogart in the leg. Lewis said the shooting was in self defense and that Bogart tried to break into his house.
Bogart told authorities he occupied the property, which reportedly belongs to Lewis.
Lewis was free on bond.
See earlier story: FORMER STATE CANDIDATE HIRAM LEWIS INDICTED IN CLAY
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