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Authorities: Four West Virginia men arrested for allegedly soliciting minor

Lt. Mike Stalnaker with the Parkersburg Police Department and Cpl. J.M. DeMeyer held a press conference Wednesday at the police department to discuss the arrest of four men for child solicitation charges. (Photo by Candice Black)

PARKERSBURG — Four men were arrested over the weekend for soliciting a minor online after an undercover operation by the West Virginia State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Tristian Lee Cumberledge, 38, 1106 16th St., Parkersburg, Jamie Todd Holbert, 50, 4807 First Ave., Parkersburg, Jeffrey Lee Ward Jr., 30, 55 Kent Lane, P.O. Box 143, Craigsville, W.Va., and Elijah Gage Compton, 25, 470 Bear Hollow Run, Harrisville, traveled to the Parkersburg area over the weekend to meet up with who they believed to be minor children online, Lt. Mark Stalnaker with the Parkersburg Police Department said during a press conference Wednesday.

“There’s no more worthy cause than to investigate these cases and protect our children. This operation began on Thursday last week, involving several different local agencies, state agencies and federal agencies,” he said.

Ward allegedly used an electronic device to communicate with who he believed to be a 14-year-old female. Stalnaker said. Ward sent pictures of his genitalia and the conversation was sexual in nature.

“This is not Mr. Ward’s first time with this type of crime, Mr. Ward is actually a convicted sex offender out of the state of Ohio,” Stalnaker said.

From left, Jamie Todd Holbert of Parkersburg and Tristian Lee Cumberledge of Parkersburg were arrested over the weekend for child solicitation charges after an undercover operation. (Photo by Candice Black)

Compton had also allegedly spoken with who he believed was a 14-year-old and sent a picture of his face.

“He traveled from Ritchie County to Parkersburg to meet this 14-year-old girl,” Stalnaker said.

Cumberledge allegedly told undercover members of law enforcement, who he thought was a 14-year-old girl, that he wanted to have oral sex with a teenage girl.

“He also sent a photograph of his genitalia to the 14-year-old and Mr. Cumberledge further went on to make statements to the 14-year-old as to wanting to have oral sex with a 14-year-old. That’s something that he allegedly had been wanting to do for some time,” Stalnaker said.

Holbert allegedly sent a video of his genitalia to who he thought was a 15-year-old boy, talked about engaging in sexual activity and planned to meet in Parkersburg for sexual acts, Stalnaker said.

From left, Elijah Gage Compton of Harrisville and Jeffrey Ward Jr. of Craigsville, W.Va., were arrested over the weekend for child solicitation charges after an undercover operation. (Photo by Candice Black)

A few years ago, a similar sting operation took place and six were arrested for child solicitation crimes.

“This is comparable with the previous operations that we’ve done,” Stalnaker said.

Cpl. J.M. DeMeyer with the West Virginia State Police said she’s on the Internet Crimes Against Children task force which helped in the investigation.

“Our caseload is huge for the state of West Virginia in general. Part of what we do is undercover chats and operations in an effort to be more proactive than reactive,” she said. “This is something that we’ve done for the state for years now.”

DeMeyer said child solicitation on the internet is very common around the country and that parents should be aware of what their children are doing online, specifically with platforms like TikTok and Snapchat.

“They’re all dangerous for kids. Any computer, phone or media device that has the capability to send or take pictures as well as message and communicate are very dangerous because predators prey on kids on the internet,” she said.

DeMeyer hopes to create a local task force to combat online child solicitation with the idea that with more people working toward a common goal, it will be successful in more arrests.

“Everywhere in the world, law enforcement is struggling and our manpower is bad. I think if we work together like we did on this operation, we’ll be successful with combating crimes against children,” she said.

To gain a knowledge of how certain sites and apps work, DeMeyer encourages parents and guardians to download them to their phones.

“And parents need to know their kids’ passwords. Parents need to have an open, fluid conversation with their children about predators and being blackmailed on the internet and appropriate and inappropriate things to do,” she said. “There’s a website called netsmartz.org which I highly suggest everybody go to. It discusses human trafficking, child exploitation, child pornography and how to talk to your children and how to talk to your friends and family members about combating child exploitation.”

Stalnaker said more charges could be coming and believes it was a successful operation.

“It’s also good to keep in mind that this operation basically ran (from) Thursday night into Saturday evening. We had poor weather conditions but still were able to arrest four people and some more charges pending on other people,” he said.

Cumberledge, Holbert, Ward and Compton are being charged with solicitation of a minor. Ward was being held at North Central Regional Jail on a $200,000 surety bond, while the others were released on bond — Cumberledge at $50,000, Holbert at $150,000 and Compton at $200,000.

Candice Black can be reached at cblack@newsandsentinel.com.

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