A Republican state legislator has been charged with enticing a minor after police say he had explicit conversations with a child that began on Roblox.
Elliot Pritt, a member of West Virginia’s House of Delegates who is also a teacher, was arrested Wednesday and faces a federal count of enticement of a minor, according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint alleges that Pritt, 36, started communicating with a student on Roblox while she was in eighth grade, which later transitioned to them talking on Snapchat.
The student’s family reported that Pritt shared nude images of himself, requested sexually explicit photos, and sexually abused the girl on multiple occasions on school grounds, according to the complaint.
“By the end of her eighth grade year, Pritt told a minor female that he loved her,” the complaint said.
The complaint said that Pritt later initiated a physical relationship with the teenager and requested that she meet him in his classroom at Oak Hill High School to engage in sexual activity at least five to ten times.
Pritt allegedly swore the girl to secrecy, telling her, “It would be in the news. It would be awful. For both of us. I would lose my entire life.”
However, according to the criminal complaint, the family of a 15-year-old girl reported that the minor had been sexually abused by Pritt.
Pritt is married with four children of his own.
The state’s House Speaker, Roger Hanshaw, called for Pritt to resign immediately.
“What Elliot Pritt is accused of doing is shocking, disgusting, and disappointing in every way,” Hanshaw, who is also a Republican, said in a statement. “I urge Elliott Pritt, for the benefit of his family and the people of his District, to spare his students and his colleagues at every level the continued embarrassments and distractions and to resign from elected office as soon as he is able.”
West Virginia Republican Party Chair Josh Holstein, who also serves in the House, called the allegations “shocking, sickening, and deeply disturbing.”
While every person is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process under the law, charges involving the exploitation and abuse of children strikes at the core of the public trust. It is simply unconscionable,” he said. “The West Virginia Republican Party has zero tolerance for the exploitation or abuse of children. If these allegations are proven in court, Del. Pritt should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he continued.
Pritt is currently being held at the Carter County Detention Center and is set to appear in federal court on July 27.
