Republican Lawmaker Arrested For Having Sex (Allege) 8th Grader in The Classroom
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| Republican West Virginian House Del. David Elliot Pritt | Carter County Detention Center |
Federal court documents allege that he had communicated with the girl through the gaming platform Roblox and the image-sharing social media network Snapchat. He allegedly told her he loved her, sent sexually explicit images to her, and requested (anywhere from five to 10 times) that she meet him for sexual activity in an Oak Hill High School classroom.
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While the classroom sexual encounters reportedly stopped last January, the two allegedly continued communicating through Snapchat through this month, and he reportedly asked her to send him sexually explicit images. He also allegedly told her not to tell anyone about their interactions or else it would “open up hell in our lives,” WCHS reported.
An investigation into these charges began on July 9. State House Speaker Roger Hanshaw (R) said that Pritt had been removed from all his roles in the state’s House of Delegates. Chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party, Del. Josh Holstein, called the allegations “shocking, sickening and deeply disturbing,” “unconscionable,” and urged Pritt to immediately resign as a delegate.
“While every person is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process under the law, charges involving the exploitation and abuse of children strike at the core of the public trust,” Holstein said. “The people of his district deserve representation that is beyond reproach, and these allegations make it impossible for him to effectively serve.”
Pritt was initially elected to the state House as a Democrat in 2022 but changed his political affiliation to Republican the year after. Republican Party chair Elgine McArdle said in a statement that Pritt had realized that the “Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party that our parents grew up with.”
State Republicans have filed numerous bills seeking to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender minors, ban trans student-athletes from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity, and nullify cities’ non-discrimination ordinances.
In 2023, Pritt voted for a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth. State Sen. Mike Azinger (R) said that the bill was needed because gender is “self-evident” and that the bill was needed to stop doctors who want to “chop up a child,” even though gender affirming surgery is almost never performed on minors and the bill banned non-surgical interventions.
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