Former West Virginia school counselor sentenced for child porn, enticement

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former elementary college counselor in West Virginia who admitted to possessing youngster pornography and posing as an 18-year-old on social media to speak with ladies was sentenced to 25 years in jail Monday.

Federal prosecutors stated that starting in January 2020, Todd C. Roatsey of Elkview persuaded two ladies to file and ship him quite a few sexually express movies, and he reciprocated.

Roatsey additionally used his Snapchat account to speak with ladies he knew by means of his place as a Pinch Elementary Faculty counselor in Kanawha County. He obtained quite a few movies of women performing dance routines carrying solely sports activities bras and shorts, prosecutors stated.

Roatsey, 43, additionally admitted to possessing and distributing youngster pornography by means of quite a lot of media, prosecutors stated. He pleaded responsible in June to tried manufacturing of kid pornography and tried enticement of a minor.

Inside hours of Homeland Safety investigators executing a search warrant at his residence and seizing quite a few digital units in October 2021, Roatsey deleted his Snapchat account, making varied data inaccessible to legislation enforcement, prosecutors stated.

“As an elementary college counselor, Roatsey deliberately positioned himself able of belief over the varieties of youngsters to whom he was sexually attracted,” U.S. Lawyer Will Thompson stated in a press release. “In our communities, colleges are the one fixed for lots of youngsters. Lots of the time, college is the protected place. The truth that Mr. Roatsey made this not a protected place was, I discover, to be very horrific.”