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Failure to check was a mistake

A quick search of the state sex offender registry last fall would have alerted West Virginia legislators that hiring Alexander Phillip Collins as an intern was not a good idea. But neither that nor any other background check that would have disclosed Collins’ criminal record was performed.

As a result, Collins served as a paid intern for the House of Delegates Education Committee during most of the Legislature’s 60-day session earlier this year.

Collins, 23, is a convicted sex offender. He pleaded guilty in 2013 to a charge of downloading child pornography to his home computer, then sharing the material with others. Police found many images of juvenile males engaged in sex acts on Collins’ computer in Lincoln County.

After pleading guilty, Collins was placed on probation and ordered to obtain therapy for sex offenders.

Then, last fall, just weeks before his probation ended, he applied for and was awarded a paid internship in the Legislature. A committee including nine lawmakers and six other people hired him, at $1,400 a month. It appears the internship was to fulfill some requirements of the college program in which he was enrolled.

No background check was conducted.

Collins was fired after lawmakers became aware of his record, just before the session ended in early March.

There have been no reports of any misconduct committed by Collins in relation to the internship.

But failure by officials of the Legislature to even ask potential interns whether they have criminal records, then to verify they do not through background checks, was a lapse that should not be repeated.

Collins’ position put him in proximity to, possibly contact with, juveniles at the Capitol.

No agency of state government – legislative, executive or judicial – should hire employees or accept volunteers without some background checks. Legislative leaders say that will be done in the future. It should have been done prior to last fall.

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