Hitt

HODGESVILLE — A new full-time Upshur County Sheriff’s Office deputy will be assigned as a PRO officer at Hodgesville Elementary School after an Upshur County man who allegedly made threats against the school’s students was released as part of a deferred adjudication agreement.

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office announced that, “after much thought,” the office and other Upshur County officials had decided to assign a new full-time deputy PRO officer at Hodgesville Elementary. The officer will be in the school until January 2026.

The decision was made after safety concerns were raised by community members following a deferred adjudication agreement and the release of Andrew Devon Hitt, 25, who allegedly made threats against his parents and against students at Hodgesville Elementary in May.

“We feel that there is an obligation to protect the children and staff in the school,” the Sheriff’s Office statement read Tuesday afternoon. “This placement will allow the other elementary PRO Officer to be at the other elementary schools in the county. This increase in monitoring will also give the Upshur County Board of Education a chance to plan how they will move forward after the Christmas break.”

According to circuit court records, on Nov. 4, Hitt entered into a deferred adjudication agreement in Upshur County Circuit Court. Upshur County Circuit Court Judge Jacob E. Reger accepted the deferred adjudication agreement. According to West Virginia State Code, this means the court deferred accepting Hitt’s guilty plea and deferred on entering a final judgement, releasing Hitt “upon such terms and conditions as the court deems just and necessary.”

“Mr. Hitt is currently being monitored on GPS Home Confinement as per court order,” the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office said in Tuesday’s statement.

Because the crime Hitt was accused of is a felony, West Virginia State Code states that the court may “defer adjudication for a period not to exceed three years.” This means if Hitt complies with the conditions placed by the court for the three years, he could withdraw his plea of guilty and the charges against him could be dismissed. It is also likely that, after the possible three years, Hitt could be able to enter a plea of guilty or no contest to a lesser offense.

Hitt was initially indicted on two counts of threats of terroristic acts, a felony, by the Upshur County Grand Jury in September.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Cpl. Samuel W. Shahan with the West Virginia State Police, on May 5, Shahan received screenshots from an FBI agency in Florida that showed messages sent through the cross-platform communication app Discord by the screen name “Chicken Jockey SMD Scott.”

In the messages, the complaint states that the sender wrote, “I could even kill my parents and smear their blood all over the walls,” “I live near a school” and “I have had thoughts of how easy it would be to snipe those kids off one by one from my yard.”

On May 6, the FBI informed Shahan that the messages had been sent over Discord by the user biggie1._42404# and that they believed Hitt was the owner of the account, the complaint states.

Shahan said in the complaint that he spoke with Hitt on May 6 and, after being read his rights, Hitt confirmed that the account belonged to him and acknowledged that he had sent those messages.