A Roanoke prosecutor will likely decide whether a pair of former Abingdon-based magistrates should be charged for falsifying documents to steer bail bonds to a family member.

Roanoke Commonwealth’s Attorney Donald S. Caldwell has agreed to take the case from Washington County prosecutor Dennis Godfrey, who wants to avoid any appearance of impropriety because he has professional ties to the local magistrate’s office.

Ultimately, Caldwell’s role as special prosecutor will depend on a judge’s approval.

“We are beginning to review the [case] information in anticipation of being appointed by a judge,” Caldwell said Friday.

A decision on whether to file charges could be as much as three months away.

“Anytime you take on a prosecution from any other jurisdiction, it comes on top of your own case load,” Caldwell said.

The Virginia State Police finished its investigation into the magistrate’s office in late July, nearly a month after a Bristol Herald Courier investigation linked tampered court documents to the two magistrates and a single bail bondsmen who is the father of one of the magistrates.

The case landed in Godfrey’s lap slightly more than a week ago.

The bondsman, J.C. Mullins Jr., of Abingdon Bail Bonds, is currently under investigation by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, which licenses and regulates the profession.

Department enforcement agent Burt Walker said the investigation could be lengthy considering there are just three agents to regulate the state’s nearly 500 bail bondsman licenses.

A June 28 Herald Courier story detailed how John C. “Tiny” Mullins III falsified court records the evening of April 18, 2008, and early the next day – to hide questionable dealings with his father, J.C. Mullins. To conceal his involvement, the son used fellow magistrate Norman Dayton Harris’ electronic computer signature to sign three separate bail bond forms to release from jail three defendants awaiting court hearings.

Each time, the freed defendant hired Tiny Mullins’ father, J.C. Mullins Jr., of Abingdon Bail Bonds.

Harris admits giving Tiny Mullins the computer pass code to the electronic signature.

The Virginia Supreme Court, which oversees the state magistrate system, fired Tiny Mullins and forced Harris to retire in May, three weeks after the newspaper first sought public documents relating to the scheme.