Jerry Mezzatesta

Jerry Mezzatesta is an American politician in the U.S. state of West Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Mezzatesta was the West Virginia House of Delegates member from the 50th District which represents Mineral County and Hampshire County in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.

In 2004, Jerry Mezzatesta and his wife, Mary Lou, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge that they altered and destroyed legislative computer records [1]. Mezzatesta lost his re-election bid that same year. In April 2005, he was fired from his $60,000-a-year job with the Hampshire County Board of Education. In 2005, the West Virginia Ethics Commission found that Mezzatesta had violated an agreement to not use his legislative position to solicit funds for the county's school system. They subsequently fined him $2000.[2]. In September 2006, a federal grand jury indicted him and former Hampshire County Schools Superintendent David Friend on two counts of fraud and misappropriation of funds [3]. Mezzatesta pleaded not guilty. He and Friend were found not guilty on March 30, 2007. Even though he was found not guilty, many still believe that what was done was ethically wrong.