Sam Amico
A West Virginia elementary school counselor has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after it was revealed he posed as an 18-year-old on Snapchat to receive videos of underage girls dancing in sports bras and shorts.
Videos by Rare
Todd Roatsey, 43, was the guidance counselor at Pinch Elementary in Elview, W.Va,. where he used the social media app to connect with multiple minors, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
“As an elementary school counselor, Roatsey intentionally placed himself in a position of trust over the kinds of children to whom he was sexually attracted,” US attorney Will Thompson said in a statement.
“In our communities, schools are the only constant for a lot of children. A lot of the time, school is the safe place. The fact that Mr. Roatsey made this not a safe place was, I find, to be very horrific.”
Todd Roatsey Arrested
Per court records, Roatsey first contacted a 16-year-old girl, and another he believed to be a minor, via Snapchat, in January 2020. He himself posed as an 18-year old male, prosecutors said.
Another victim was a student at Pinch, with several others also being as young as 12-years-old.
Along with that, Roatsey confessed to “distributing, receiving and owning child porn, including stomach-turning images and videos of infants and toddlers from October 2019 until July 2021,” the New York Post reported.
Not surprisingly, he deleted his Snapchat account once word got out about an investigation, making it slightly more difficult for those pursuing his crimes.
“By deleting the account, the US Attorney’s Office said he made various records inaccessible to law enforcement for further prosecution,” the Post wrote.
Hence, likely why he only received 25 years. But on top of that, he has been ordered to pay $23,000 to his victims and forever be a registered sex offender.
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