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BELINGTON - A Barbour County man is behind bars and facing a child pornography felony charge.
Leroy Pete Ross, 33, of Belington, is charged with distribution and exhibiting of material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct possession of child sexual abuse material, a felony. He is being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $30,000 surety/cash bond.
According to the criminal complaint, prepared by Trooper First Class E.B. Malcomb of the Elkins Detachment of the West Virginia State Police, on March 10, a National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Cybertip indicated "an incident of child sexual abuse material through the Google platform." The Cybertip also identified the user as Ross, and listed his email address and multiple mobile phone numbers.
Malcomb obtained an administrative subpoena for Ross’s IP address, and requested all subscriber information for that address from T-Mobile, the complaint states. The subpoena was granted by Upshur County Magistrate A. Suder.
On March 25, Malcomb and Trooper First Class B.S. Stout located Ross and executed the search warrant for his cellular device, according to the complaint.
Malcomb wrote that when officers approached Ross, the suspect "gave an excited utterance, stating ‘I was going to report some apps I found on there about child porn. They have been sending me messages on there, I didn’t know who to get ahold of… There’s apps on there I found that have child porn, it’s Telegram and Threads, they have been sending me messages."
Ross reportedly told officers he had been receiving child sexual abuse material on the platforms Threads and Telegram, and said "he saved the videos so he could turn them into law enforcement, but he did not contact law enforcement regarding the matter,’" the complaint states.
Ross allegedly showed officers the conversations on the apps, in which he "can be seen inquiring the unknown senders about purchasing child sexual abuse material," according to the complaint. Ross told police "the material was downloaded on his phone, he deleted the apps, and the messages deleted." The officers seized Ross’s cellular device.
The device was transported to the State Police Morgantown Digital Forensic Laboratory for further analysis, the complaint states. The analysis was completed on Aug. 25, and allegedly revealed a photograph and a video showing alleged child sexual abuse material.