A Charleston City councilman's cellphone has been confiscated by police as part of an investigation into a fatal overdose.
Councilman Bernard Slater is being investigated after officers say they found text messages from him in Steven Coleman's cellphone, according to an affidavit used by police to obtain a search warrant. Coleman is charged with felony murder in the overdose death of Melody Ann Oxley.
The councilman was attempting to purchase prescription medication from Coleman, Charleston Police Detective Eric Smith wrote in the affidavit, which was made public Friday.
"At one point the murder was discussed and Slater offered to be a witness for Coleman by falsely testifying that he was present during the overdose," Smith wrote.
According to the charge against Coleman, Oxley was found dead on Feb. 14 in a bedroom at a house Coleman shares with his father, Steve Slater, on Charleston's West Side. Coleman and Bernard Slater are cousins.
Police say that both Coleman and his father admitted that Coleman provided heroin to Oxley before her death. Coleman testified in a hearing last month, though, that he never gave her any drugs.
Coleman was arrested and charged in May after the state Medical Examiner's Office ruled Oxley had died from an overdose of heroin, alprazolam and clonazepam, according to police.
Charleston Police Lt. Steve Cooper said Monday that there is "clear evidence" on the councilman's phone of drug activity. Bernard Slater could not be reached Monday.
"We will be forwarding information that we discovered on [Slater's] phone regarding the buying and selling of drugs to [the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team]," Cooper said. "There is clear evidence on the device of drugs being bought and sold."
Slater, a Democrat, was elected to Ward 1 earlier this year. He has a lengthy criminal history, according to previous Gazette-Mail reports. He told the newspaper while campaigning that he used to struggle with a substance abuse problem but that his "history is not relevant now that I have gave my life to Christ."
He has been charged with three DUIs during the last four years.
In 2009, Bernard Slater was charged with driving under the influence, along with possession of a controlled substance.
A criminal complaint stated Slater was found slumped over in his car in the parking lot of Southmoor Apartments. A Xanax pill was found in Slater's car, and he allegedly told officers he didn't have a prescription for it.
Those charges, all misdemeanors, were dismissed as part of a deal with prosecutors.
He was charged with another DUI in 2010 following a car crash on Interstate 77 near the Greenbrier Street exit in Charleston.
During the same incident, Slater was charged with having no proof of insurance and driving with a suspended license that was revoked because of his previous DUI.
Slater pleaded guilty to the DUI and driving with a suspended license. The insurance charge was dropped as part of his plea, according to court documents.
Slater was also charged with a DUI in 2013 after a police officer stopped him on the 100 block of Quarrier Street. The officer wrote in a criminal complaint that Slater's vehicle was straddling the white dotted line.
A run of Slater's license number showed his license was revoked because of a DUI, and he was also charged with driving with a suspended license.
That charge was dismissed, and Slater paid a $100 fee for the DUI.
Later in 2010, Slater was charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor destruction of property. A police officer responded to a call from a house where Slater was staying and said he kicked in the basement door to retrieve a wireless Internet card Slater was letting the homeowner's father borrow.
The felony burglary charge was dismissed, court records show.
The councilman has also faced, among others, domestic violence and child neglect charges.
Slater previously said he believes his record makes him "stronger and more experienced to deal with the people of my ward.
"I can relate to almost everyone who lives here because of the situations that have happened in my life. I am not ashamed of my past. Everyone has one and mine was not pretty, but my future will be bright," he said.
Reach Kate White at
kate.white@wvgazette.com,
304-348-1723 or follow
@KateLWhite on Twitter.