Lowther

ELKINS — Probable cause was found in the case of a Randolph County man accused of distributing explicit material involving minors, moving the case forward to be considered by the Randolph County Grand Jury.

Joshua Matthew Lowther, 41, is charged with one count of distributing or exhibiting material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct – 600+ images, a felony. He is currently being held at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $75,000 cash-only bond.

Lowther appeared in Randolph Count Magistrate Court for a preliminary hearing this week, represented by attorney Brent Easton. The state was represented by Randolph County Assistant Prosecutor Christina Harper. Randolph County Magistrate Michael Dyer presided over the case and found probable cause against Lowther, moving the case to be examined by the Randolph County Grad Jury.

At the hearing’s start, Easton asked the court to consider modifying Lowther’s bond from cash-only to either 10% cash or real property. Easton added, however, that, if the court did include real property in the bond, they should raise the bond from $75,000 to $100,000. Christina Harper argued that the bond was already reasonably set considering the crime. After finding probable cause, Dyer denied the motion to modify Lowther’s bond, calling him a “significant danger.”

Christina Harper called Trooper First Class Caleb Harper with the West Virginia State Police to testify before the court. Caleb Harper was the investigating and arresting officer in the case.

Caleb Harper, a member of the State Police’s Crimes Against Children Unit, told the court he was contacted on March 17 by the FBI in Clarksburg and from the Washington D.C. office regarding a cyber tip they had received. From the tip, the FBI discovered that 51 files of explicit material involving minors had been sent from the Kik Messenger app by a user named KTMBoy666. It was discovered that the user also had an account on another messaging app, Telegram. Caleb Harper explained that an undercover agent spoke to the user on Telegram and user said they were from West Virginia and “interested in young.”

Caleb Harper told the court that the FBI subpoenaed Telegram for the telephone number of the user, which revealed that it was an AT&T number. Another subpoena was issued for AT&T, who told the FBI that the phone number was Lowther’s.

Caleb Harper stated that, in the files provided by the FBI, he observed around 55 videos that had explicit content involving prepubescent children and infants. On April 3, search warrants were served for Lowther’s residence and one to two cellphones, a laptop and a CD disc were taken from the home. The West Virginia State Police forensically downloaded data from Lowther’s confiscated phone, and Caleb Harper told the court that two videos and 362 images of explicit material involving prepubescent children and infants were found on the device.

Caleb Harper admitted that they did not find the Kik Messenger app downloaded on Lowther’s phone, but his search history revealed that he searched terms involving Kik and had downloaded the messenger app MEGA, which Caleb Harper said has been known to be used for child abuse.

During cross-examination, Easton asked Caleb Harper if Lowther ever made any exculpatory statements to the police. Caleb Harper said that Lowther admitted the phone number and a connected email were his, but Lowther denied having a Kik account. Easton also asked if the photos and videos tied to the Kik account could be saved on the app. Caleb Harper admitted that he was “not sure” if the Kik app saves that data.

When asked by Easton if the two videos and 362 images were from Lowther’s phone’s photo album or another application, Caleb Harper stated that he would have to check the forensic download again to see where exactly on the phone the videos and images were pulled from. Easton also asked if Lowther had Kik or Telegram downloaded on the phone, to which Caleb Harper said Lowther did not.

In her redirect, Christina Harper asked if the videos and images were “physically” on Lowther’s phone, to which Caleb Harper responded that, regardless of where the videos and images were pulled from on the phone, they were “physically on the device.”

In closing arguments, Christina Harper said the court should find probable cause against Lowther, as it was clear the explicit material was found on his phone and the Telegram account was traced to Lowther’s phone number. Easton did not give a closing argument.