FAIRMONT — On Thursday, West Virginia State Police arrested Gerald R. Stevens Jr., 55, of Fairmont, on five charges of use of obscene matter with intent to seduce a minor and 10 charges of distribution and exhibiting of material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, a total of 15 charges.
According to criminal complaints, the investigation began Oct. 11, when a representative from Mon Power dropped two USB flash drives off at the Fairmont detachment of the state police, advising that an employee had found them in a company truck.
State police reviewed the material on the drives and found gigabytes of sexual images and videos of minors, chat logs of a sexual nature between the username “g_stevens2000” and minors of varying ages, and a chat log in which “g_stevens2000” talked with a man who claimed to be sexually molesting a 6-year-old child, the complaints say.
Stevens was arraigned by Magistrate Hank Middlemas, who set bond at $100,000 per charge, for a total of $1.5 million. Stevens is currently being held at the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County.
Read the complete story in tomorrow's Times West Virginian, available at newsstands or through home delivery by calling 304-367-2525 or 304-367-2527.



