MCDOWELL COUNTY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A McDowell County man is charged with sexual abuse and sexual assault charges.
According to McDowell County deputies, a victim alleges that on Saturday, July 17, 2021, she was on the side of Cherokee Road at the horseshoe curve due to having vehicle trouble. The victim told deputies that a male subject had pulled up in a pickup truck and offered her assistance. Â The victim remembers the man approaching her from behind, and the next thing she remembers is waking up in the back seat of her vehicle. Â When she woke up, the victim said her clothes were off, she had a knot over her eye, her head was hurting, and she was dirty.
The deputy had the victim go to Welch Community Hospital, where a sex crimes kit was performed and sent to the West Virginia State Police Forensic Laboratory for analysis.
After the analysis was performed, State Police told the investigating deputy that male DNA was found. Â When the DNA was entered into the system, it was revealed that the suspect, Mark Edward Thomas, 46, of Welch, WV, was a match.
Mark Thomas is charged with second-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual abuse. Â He is held in Southern Regional Jail under a 50,000 dollar bond on those two charges. Â He is also facing charges out of Wyoming County with failure to register as a sex offender and a capias charge out of Mercer County.
