CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) – West Virginia Speaker of the House of Delegates Roger Hanshaw has delivered a letter to Governor Patrick Morrisey, asking him to call an extraordinary session that would consider and act on a resolution expelling Delegate Elliott Pritt, who has been arrested on a federal charge of enticement of a minor and is accused of sending and requesting sexually explicit images to a fifteen year old girl and engaging in sexual activity with her in a Fayette County classroom.
The letter was signed by more than three fifths of the House of Delegates. Hanshaw asked Governor Morrisey to schedule the session for August 10, which coincides with previously scheduled legislative interim meetings.
Hanshaw has previously called for the resignation of Elliott Pritt, who is the delegate for West Virginia’s 50th district and a high school teacher in Fayette County.
“In America, we all enjoy the presumption of innocence, and Delegate Pritt is entitled to that same constitutional protection. Public officials and leaders are, and rightfully should be, held to a higher standard. When the people place their trust in elected officials by entrusting them with the right to hold public office, more than the minimum is expected,” Hanshaw said.
Pritt’s teaching certification has been suspended, and Fayette County School Superintendent David Warvel has suspended Pritt from his position without pay.
A federal criminal complaint alleges that Pritt began communicating with a minor on the online video game Roblox during her eighth grade year, which was approximately 2024-2025. The conversation moved to the social media messaging platform Snapchat.
Pritt eventually told the alleged victim that he loved her, and the criminal complaint alleges that Pritt was sending inappropriate messages to her by the summer of 2025. He asked her to send pictures back, and the complaint alleges “While the pictures [the alleged victim] initially sent via Snapchat were innocuous, at PRITT’s request and direction they became increasingly more explicit.”
According to the complaint, the victim told police that Pritt initiated a physical relationship with her during late 2025. Pritt allegedly would ask her to meet him in his class room at Oak Hill High School, where they allegedly engaged in sexual activity including oral sex.
The victim told investigators that it happened five to ten times. The last sexual encounter allegedly happened between December 2025 or January 2026, but Pritt allegedly continued to request explicit pictures up to July 2026.
On June 20, 2026, Pritt allegedly told the victim not to tell anyone. If she told anyone, the complaint alleges, Pritt told her “the state police show up and take your phone and mine and open up hell in our lives. And because of me it would very much not be low key. It would be in the news. It would be awful. For both of us. And I would lose my entire life.”
