CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The former host of "West Virginia's Most Wanted" pleaded guilty in Kanawha Circuit Court Monday to felony breaking and entering and two misdemeanors.

Andrew Lynne Palmer, 42, admitted that he broke into E&H Manufacturing on Pennsylvania Avenue on Dec. 23, 2007. He also admitted that he made off with a handheld GPS unit worth roughly $100 and that he used a credit card he took during the break-in to buy $47 worth of gas, both misdemeanors.

The founder of the anti-gang organization Chain Breakers told Judge Tod Kaufman that he did not commit all the crimes he was charged with when the grand jury indicted him in August. He said he was taking the plea deal because he did not want to risk going to trial and facing a lengthy prison sentence.

Palmer's co-defendant in the break-in, John Edens, was prepared to testify against him, said Palmer's lawyer, Jesse Forbes.

"[Palmer] realizes that it's in his best interest to plead guilty," Forbes said.

Kanawha County assistant prosecutor Tera Salango said that Palmer entered E&H through a back door and took blank checks, credit cards, the GPS device and other items he found inside.

Palmer's plea caps a tumultuous period for the former host of the cable access crime-fighting program.

In July, he was arrested and charged in two separate incidents. In one, he was alleged to have stolen a van from a man who let Palmer stay at his St. Albans home after Palmer had a fight with his girlfriend.

He was also accused of leading police on a high-speed chase on Interstate 64 in South Charleston in February.

In November 2007, Palmer pleaded guilty to battery after police charged him with beating a man who refused to buy him drugs.

In March 2007, Palmer was ordered to pay his former fiancée Wanda Ray more than $22,000 after a Kanawha County jury found he conned her into buying him a trailer.

Ray sat in the courtroom Monday as Palmer entered his guilty pleas.

After the hearing, Palmer called the Gazette from South Central Regional Jail, where he is being held pending his Feb. 6 sentencing.

Palmer, whose earlier struggles with drugs and alcohol had previously landed him in prison, acknowledged that he had relapsed and started using again during the period where he was repeatedly arrested.

"My addiction did come back upon me again," he said. "A lot of people don't understand, your addiction doesn't go away. ... As soon as it had an opportunity, it took some shots at me."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The former host of "West Virginia's Most Wanted" pleaded guilty in Kanawha Circuit Court Monday to felony breaking and entering and two misdemeanors.

Andrew Lynne Palmer, 42, admitted that he broke into E&H Manufacturing on Pennsylvania Avenue on Dec. 23, 2007. He also admitted that he made off with a handheld GPS unit worth roughly $100 and that he used a credit card he took during the break-in to buy $47 worth of gas, both misdemeanors.

The founder of the anti-gang organization Chain Breakers told Judge Tod Kaufman that he did not commit all the crimes he was charged with when the grand jury indicted him in August. He said he was taking the plea deal because he did not want to risk going to trial and facing a lengthy prison sentence.

Palmer's co-defendant in the break-in, John Edens, was prepared to testify against him, said Palmer's lawyer, Jesse Forbes.

"[Palmer] realizes that it's in his best interest to plead guilty," Forbes said.

Kanawha County assistant prosecutor Tera Salango said that Palmer entered E&H through a back door and took blank checks, credit cards, the GPS device and other items he found inside.

Palmer's plea caps a tumultuous period for the former host of the cable access crime-fighting program.

In July, he was arrested and charged in two separate incidents. In one, he was alleged to have stolen a van from a man who let Palmer stay at his St. Albans home after Palmer had a fight with his girlfriend.

He was also accused of leading police on a high-speed chase on Interstate 64 in South Charleston in February.

In November 2007, Palmer pleaded guilty to battery after police charged him with beating a man who refused to buy him drugs.

In March 2007, Palmer was ordered to pay his former fiancée Wanda Ray more than $22,000 after a Kanawha County jury found he conned her into buying him a trailer.

Ray sat in the courtroom Monday as Palmer entered his guilty pleas.

After the hearing, Palmer called the Gazette from South Central Regional Jail, where he is being held pending his Feb. 6 sentencing.

Palmer, whose earlier struggles with drugs and alcohol had previously landed him in prison, acknowledged that he had relapsed and started using again during the period where he was repeatedly arrested.

"My addiction did come back upon me again," he said. "A lot of people don't understand, your addiction doesn't go away. ... As soon as it had an opportunity, it took some shots at me."

Palmer said he had been clean and sober for 10 years before relapsing. He said he has now been off drugs and alcohol for six months, including the last five spent in jail since his July arrest.

The Chain Breakers group has essentially dissolved since his life has gone into disarray, he said: "I was Chain Breakers, basically."

Palmer hopes that some other media outlet, like a newspaper or television station, will pick up the "West Virginia's Most Wanted" concept and run with it, he said.

"I'm not in the capacity to do so," said Palmer, who faces up to 12 years in prison.

Ray, who was also on the three-way call, said she continues to support Palmer "because I believe in forgiveness."

Ray said she regretted filing the lawsuit against Palmer after they split up.

"I should have let God handle it," she said. "But I took matters into my own hands. I was hurt."

Ray credited Palmer with helping her deal with her son's addiction to methamphetamine. "I believe in Andy, and I know the good in him," she said.

Ray had previously offered to have Palmer serve home confinement at her Sissonville house, and said the offer still stands, if he is able to post bond, which is set at $30,000 property surety with a 10 percent cash option.

Both Palmer and Ray said that they still love each other. Ray said she still hopes to marry Palmer, God willing.

"Wanda loves me and I love Wanda," Palmer said, just before hanging up.

Reach Andrew Clevenger

at acleven...@wvgazette.com

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