CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The former counselor at Pinch Elementary in Kanawha County pleaded guilty today to attempted production of child pornography and attempted enticement of a minor.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Todd Christopher Roatsey, 43, of Elkview, admitted to posing as an 18-year-old boy while using the Snapchat instant messaging application to communicate with multiple minor females.
Beginning in January 2020, Roatsey began communicating via Snapchat with one girl he believed to be 16 and a second female he believed also to be a minor. He persuaded each to record and send him numerous sexually explicit videos that depicted each female masturbating. Roatsey also sent both girls videos of himself masturbating
Roatsey further used this Snapchat account to communicate with several minor females he knew through his position as a Pinch Elementary School counselor. These communications included more than 100 Snapchat conversations Roatsey recorded with two of these minor females, both approximately 12 years old and one of whom was then a student at Pinch Elementary. During these conversations, Roatsey told the girls that they were “hot” and “sexy” and received numerous videos of the minor females doing “TikTok” style dance routines wearing only sports bras and shorts. In other videos, the minor females would do various gymnastics poses such as full backbends.
Roatsey also admitted to distributing, receiving, possessing, and accessing child pornography, including images and videos depicting infants and toddlers, through a variety of media between at least October 9, 2019, through July 16, 2021. Specifically, Roatsey possessed child pornography on devices seized from his residence, including his cell phone, and on the encrypted cloud-based file storage service Mega. Using both Mega and the messaging application Kik, Roatsey also distributed various images and videos of prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct to other individuals.
On October 28, 2021, Roatsey deleted the Snapchat account he used to engage in these activities within hours of Homeland Security Investigations executing a search warrant at his residence and seizing numerous electronic devices found to contain child pornography. By deleting the account, he obstructed justice by making various Snapchat records inaccessible to law enforcement and unavailable for any subsequent federal prosecution.
