FAYETTE COUNTY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A Fayette County man has been convicted of of sexual crimes involving a child, following a three-day jury trial.
Anthony Ciliberti, Jr., Prosecuting Attorney, announces that on April 13, 2023, Brendan T. Willis, age 33, of Victor, West Virginia, was convicted of Sexual Abuse by a Parent, Guardian, or Custodian and First-Degree Sexual Abuse, both felony sex crimes involving a child, following a three-day jury trial before Circuit Judge Thomas H. Ewing.
In January 2020, a female juvenile disclosed that the Defendant, Brendan T. Willis, had sexually abused her on two prior occasions when she was under twelve. In response to the juvenile child’s disclosure, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department Detective Bureau opened an investigation into the Defendant. Ultimately, it was determined by investigators that the Defendant had sexually abused the juvenile on two occasions.
Willis faces not less than ten years nor more than twenty years for the crime of Sexual Abuse by a Parent, Guardian, or Custodian, and not less than five (5) years nor more than twenty-five (25) years for the crime of First Degree Sexual Abuse. Willis will be sentenced for these crimes on Monday, June 26, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. Willis also faces up to fifty years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life as the victim was a child.
This crime was investigated by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department Detective Bureau. Victim support services were provided to the victim and the victim’s family by the Just for Kids Child Advocacy Center. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Sarah F. Smith prosecuted the case.