Hitt

BUCKHANNON — The Upshur County man who was arrested last year after making threats against Hodgesville Elementary School students received the maximum sentence in court Friday.

Andrew Devon Hitt, 25, was sentenced by Upshur County Circuit Court Judge Jacob E. Reger to not less than one year nor more than three years for one count of making threats of terroristic acts, a felony. According to reports, Hitt will be eligible for parole in three months.

Hitt was initially indicted on two counts of threats of terroristic acts by the Upshur County Grand Jury in September, after making threats against his parents and against students at Hodgesville Elementary in May.

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 agent in Florida that showed messages sent through 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.

According to circuit court records, on Nov. 4, Hitt entered into a deferred adjudication agreement in Upshur County Circuit Court. 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.”

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 meant if Hitt complied 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 was also possible that, after the three years, Hitt could be able to enter a plea of guilty or no contest to a lesser offense.

However, Hitt was arrested again in December after allegedly violating his home confinement by deleting his browser history, accessing Discord and creating a TikTok account under the name of a police officer. Hitt was charged with one count of obstructing an officer, a misdemeanor.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Lieutenant Theron Cayor, on Dec. 1, the Upshur County Home Confinement Supervisor D. Long and Chief Deputy D. Sears conducted a home confinement check on Hitt at his residence in Buckhannon.

During the check, Long performed a “routine inspection” of Hitt’s computer and cellphone, the complaint states. Long allegedly observed that both devices had their browser history cleared. When Hitt was asked about this, he allegedly stated that he had the browsers on the devices “set to automatically clear after every use.”

Long also allegedly observed indications that Hitt’s phone had recently logged into the cross-platform communication app Discord, the complaint states. Hitt had allegedly advised Long that he “no longer had Discord” during a previous home confinement check.

During a search of the computer, Long allegedly found screenshots from the social media site TikTok that were saved onto the computer on Nov. 28, the complaint states. When Long asked Hitt if he had a TikTok account, Hitt allegedly said he had created an account “a day or two ago.” Long instructed Hitt to log on to the account, and while Hitt did allegedly attempt to log on, he told Long that he was unable to.

Using open-source media, Long was able to locate the account on TikTok under the username: @gaysoftabor, the complaint states. The account was allegedly put under the name of Sgt. Anthony Rivera and contains four videos that were posted on Nov. 30. According to Long, Rivera has been a “previous target of online harassment” by Hitt.

“(Hitt) used names that were not his and advanced technology in web browsers to conceal his online activity and prevent the Home Confinement Supervisor (from) monitoring his online activity,” Long wrote in the complaint against Hitt.

In a statement released on Dec. 1 regarding Hitt’s arrest, the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office stated that these actions violated the rules of Hitt’s home confinement.

“After conferring with the prosecuting attorney on the violations and noncompliance of Mr. Hitt, it was decided to charge Hitt with obstructing an officer (misdemeanor) and file a home confinement violation,” the statement from the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office reads.

A pretrial hearing for Hitt in regard to the misdemeanor charge has been scheduled for March 12 in Upshur County Magistrate Court.