POINT PLEASANT — A Mason County Sheriff’s Deputy who appealed his termination with the sheriff’s department earlier this year has had his day in court and won.

Judge Thomas C. Evans, III, recently ruled Deputy Robert H. Glenn’s dismissal from his post as Hannan High School’s resource officer was done without providing Glenn with his statutory right to notice of a pre-disciplinary hearing which is guaranteed by West Virginia state law. This means the decision to terminate Glenn has been reversed.

Evans was also clear that no opinion in his ruling related to the “substantive merit of the disciplinary action” taken by Sheriff David Anthony, II.

“The court finds that it is unnecessary to determine whether the evidence presented was sufficient to establish just cause for termination of Deputy Glenn, because the matter must be reversed so that the Respondent (Anthony) may comply with the statutory provisions of W.Va. Code 7-14C-3.”

Glenn has maintained his innocence and that he was denied his right to notice of a pre-disciplinary hearing — the latter of which Evans agreed with and ruled upon, saying notice of the hearing was the sheriff’s responsibility.

Glenn’s termination was upheld in an April hearing before the Mason County Deputy Sheriff’s Civil Service Commission — the commission upholding Anthony’s decision by a 2-0 vote. Glenn was terminated earlier this year after being accused of making an inappropriate remark about a female student to a male student. Glenn has denied the remark.

Evans’ ruling remands the decision to terminate Glenn back to the commission so that Glenn may receive notice of his pre-disciplinary hearing as provided by state law.

At press time it was not known if any hearing had been scheduled or any decisions made about Glenn’s presence at the sheriff’s department — all that was clear from the ruling is Glenn has the right to notice of the hearing.