Woman charged with phone harrassment
ELKINS — A Randolph County woman is facing misdemeanor charges after allegedly harassing an individual via telephone, admitting to burning down his storage unit and reportedly being found in possession of controlled substances.
Beth A. Meadows, 51, of Elkins, is charged with one misdemeanor count of telephone harassment and one misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance. She is incarcerated at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $10,000 cash-only bond, set by Randolph County Magistrate Ben Shepler.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Randolph County Magistrate Court, at approximately 10:38 p.m. on Tuesday, Elkins Police Department Patrolman A.M. Wyshyvanuk received a walk-in complaint from the alleged victim who said he was receiving harassing messages from two different phone numbers.
He said one of the numbers he had saved in his phone as belonging to Meadows and the other number he believed also belonged to Meadows but was not saved, the complaint states. Wyshyvanuk then observed 81 messages from the first number and 46 from the second, all of which were sent after the alleged victim requested Meadows stop texting him.
Some of the messages from the first phone number included “(expletive) I burnt down your storage unit,” “Because your (sic) and your fat (expletive) is a piece of (expletive),” “You forget me dad was the fire chief of Elkins for 26 years I know how to set a fire and get away with it,” and “It was easy I just slit the rubber under the door and put some lighter fluid on some news paper (sic) and lit it on fire and shoved it under the door,” according to the complaint.
Additional messages referenced destroying the alleged victim’s car, getting him fired from his job, killing him and killing his son, court documents allege.
Wyshyvanuk then viewed messages from the second number that included, “Don’t go to the cops or your son will die I know all kinds of people,” and “These stupid pigs will never figure out anything my father was fire chief for 26 years here he taught me well,” the complaint states.
The alleged victim then accepted an offer by Meadows for a check to pay for damage to the property contained in his storage unit, police said.
In a written statement, the alleged victim said Meadows called him and asked him to come pick up the check for the damage. When he arrived at the home he received no answer. When he entered the home, he found Meadows “passed out” on the bed near a mirror with a “white powder crystal substance” and a straw, the complaint states.
According to his statement, upon waking Meadows she told the alleged victim she would not give him the check, asked him not to call the police and requested he delete all the text messages explaining how she burned down his storage unit. She added that if he said anything she would have another man shoot his son, according to court documents.
According to a separate criminal complaint filed in Randolph County Magistrate Court, on Wednesday, Wyshyvanuk was serving a search warrant for controlled substances or paraphernalia at Meadows’ residence on State Street in Elkins.
While doing so he observed a “large amount of green leafy substance inside.” A container was found in the dresser drawer in the bedroom of Meadows.
Upon further search into the drawer, Wyshyvanuk found an additional amount of green leafy substance in a small plastic bag with the imprint “4:20” in red lettering across the bag, the complaint states.
The items were seized and field tested, and came back positive for marijuana, the complaint states.