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Testimony heard in sex abuse case

Kelley

Kelley

ELKINS — Testimony was heard from the alleged victim Monday in the case of a Randolph County man accused of inappropriately touching a co-worker.

Matthew Wayne Kelley, 43, of Elkins, is charged with one felony count of first-degree sexual abuse. He is incarcerated at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $100,000 cash or surety bond, set by Randolph County Magistrate Rob Elbon.

Linlee Eidell, a social worker at Nella’s Inc. in Crystal Springs and the alleged victim, testified that Kelley, who was employed as a general utility maintenance employee since January, had told her he needed to speak with her about an issue that had taken place the previous day, regarding decorations in the room of a resident, before allegedly following her into her office and touching her.

“I went to the back of my office. On the shelf I have a visitor’s complaint log, a resident complaint log and an employee complaint log, and I was turning around to get the complaints. I dropped the one and the door shut, the blinds shut and I said, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing? Leave those blinds alone,'” Eidell testified.

“He said ‘No, no,’ and I said, ‘No, you have to leave.’ He came around the desk and he said, ‘No, this is personal.’ I got up, I put the chair in between us. Where my desk is, it’s like in a corner, so my back was against the wall. I had the chair there and he grabs my butt,” she continued. “I said, ‘Get away from me,’ I picked up the phone and I called my brother and said, ‘Get in here.'”

Eidell later testified that Kelley used his “whole hand,” “a forceful hand,” when he grabbed her. She added she felt it was sexually motivated because he said “this is personal,” paired with the way he allegedly grabbed her.

Eidell said there were three other employees who have come forward with allegations stemming from the same day of the alleged incident involving her, on March 15.

“I am aware of three other individuals…,” Eidell testified. “I was the last one. There was three others prior to mine that day.”

Linlee Eidell’s brother, Thomas Robert “T.R.” Eidell, who works as an administrative assistant at Nella’s Inc. and testified he has known Kelley for 13 years, described his actions after he received a call from his sister for assistance.

“I was in my office and I was told, she said, ‘Please, come to my office,’ and I came. I opened the door and Matt was in there. So was my sister…,” Thomas Eidell said. “She looked scared. She said something had happened.”

Thomas Eidell said he escorted Kelley to his office, where he suspended him pending an internal investigation. Kelley was later terminated from his position.

Later in his testimony, Thomas Eidell said he considered Kelley family and had never seen any type of behavior similar to this from him.

“I’ve known Matt for 13 years. I consider him a brother. I never saw it, never saw it,” Thomas Eidell said. “Could not even imagine that. He’s been around my grandchildren, he’s been around my children. I could not imagine that. I’m serious. I will say this, I’m not a doctor, there’s something that did happen that day. Something did not make sense. I have been at his house, I have been with him to two or three in the morning.”

Thomas Eidell testified that he was aware that Kelley had received medical treatment on March 12 regarding a seizure.

“I do know he had a seizure on Sunday (March 12) prior to this incident,” Thomas Eidell said. “I do know they were checking him for that and I do know, they told me but did not go into detail so I don’t want to speculate, but they said he had elevated levels and it was making his mental status, he wasn’t there.”

Randolph County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Leckta Poling asked if Kelley was medically cleared to work March 13 and March 14, after the seizure but before the alleged incident, and Thomas Eidell said he had been.

During closing argument by the prosecution, Poling asked that probable cause for Kelley’s arrest be found and the case be bound over to the Randolph County Circuit Court for presentation to a grand jury.

“Your honor, based upon the testimony the state would ask that probable cause be found that on or about March 15, 2017, in Randolph County, the defendant, Matthew Kelley, had grabbed the buttocks, which meets the statutory definition of sexual contact of the victim in this case and, based upon the testimony, it was for sexual gratification and that he did so while employed at Nella’s…,” Poling said. “Based upon the testimony the state asks that probable cause be found.”

Kelley’s defense counsel, Timothy Prentice, argued that probable cause should not be found, citing testimony of Kelley having no history of similar behavior, and noted his medical issues the weekend prior.

“Your honor, Mr. Kelley, to my knowledge has not ever done anything like this. Mr. Eidell has known him for, I believe he testified, 13 years. He testified that he was an upstanding person and this was out of character for him,” Prentice said. “There has been, at least, some evidence that he had a medical issue and that he was not himself during the alleged incident, so I don’t know that he could have intentionally done what he’s alleged to have done. Not in the sense of knowing with full cognition what he did.”

Elbon ruled that probable cause had been met by the prosecution and bound the case over to the Randolph County Circuit Court. Additionally, Elbon denied a request made by Prentice for Kelley’s bond to be reduced or modified.

Also in Randolph County Magistrate Court Monday:

• Mark Jay Courtney, 38, of Montrose, was sentenced to 90 days in jail on one misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance and 30 days in jail on one misdemeanor count of failure to appear. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively for a total of 120 days.

Courtney pleaded guilty to both of the charges as part of a plea agreement. The prosecution dismissed one felony count of transporting a controlled substance into a jail.

Poling represented the state while Courtney appeared with Steve Nanners as defense counsel. Elbon presided.

• Bond was modified in the case of Brandy Lee Caprio, 43, from $10,000 cash or surety to $5,000 cash or surety.

Caprio is charged with one felony count of grand larceny.

Additionally, she waived her preliminary hearing meaning the case will be bound over to the Randolph County Circuit Court for presentation to a grand jury.

Poling represented the state while Caprio appeared with Brian Bailey as defense counsel. Elbon presided.

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