Overview
- The arrest, which came Wednesday, followed a family report to police on July 9 that prompted a Homeland Security Investigations probe and a federal criminal complaint.
- Federal documents accuse Delegate David Elliott Pritt of beginning contact on Roblox while the girl was in eighth grade, moving conversations to Snapchat, exchanging explicit images and videos, and later engaging in repeated sexual encounters at the school where he taught.
- Pritt, 36, was charged with enticement and coercion of a minor and related offenses, is being held at the Carter County Detention Center, and is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court on July 27.
- West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw removed Pritt from all official duties and urged his resignation, and the state Republican Party publicly called for him to step down while noting the presumption of innocence.
- Fayette County Schools said it will cooperate with investigators, and the case has drawn attention to how gaming and messaging apps used by children can be exploited and how schools and law enforcement respond to alleged abuse.