By Steven Allen Adams
For The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Charleston — A member of the West Virginia House of Delegates accused of grooming a child and engaging in sexual activity is now a former lawmaker and will remain in federal custody.
The House of Delegates announced Monday afternoon that Del. Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette, had submitted a letter of resignation for House District 50. The announcement came shortly after Pritt appeared before a federal magistrate at the Robert C. Byrd Courthouse in downtown Charleston.
“I resign from the West Virginia House of Delegates, effective immediately,” Pritt wrote in the one-sentence letter to House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay.
Pritt waived his preliminary and detention hearings, meaning that Pritt will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. During a press conference Monday afternoon, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia Moore Capito said the next steps will be presenting Pritt’s indictment to a federal grand jury.
“Elliot Pritt appeared in the United States Magistrate Court for his initial appearance and his detention hearing, both of which he determined was in his best interest to waive … which is appropriate, given what we know about this case,” Capito said.
Pritt was charged last week with one count of enticement of a minor. According to an affidavit from Homeland Security Investigations, Pritt allegedly used several social media platforms, including Roblox and Snapchat, to coerce a minor into illegal sexual activity beginning when the minor was in eighth grade and continuing when the minor entered high school.
Investigators said the relationship between the minor and Pritt, a public school teacher, became physical, with the minor meeting Pritt in his classroom at Oak Hill High School in late 2025 to engage in sexual activity. Pritt continued to exchange messages with the minor into 2026, including urging the minor not to tell anyone about their prior contact.
Pritt was first elected to the House as a Democrat in 2022 and switched to a Republican in 2023. He was one of five assistant majority leaders in the House and served on the House Education Committee. Capito, a former Republican House of Delegates member and former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was unaware of Pritt’s resignation.
“I can’t comment on that because, honestly, I don’t know the answer. I read the news just like everybody else throughout the day,” Capito said. “In this capacity, in this role, what I can say is that distracting from (the legislative) process is exactly that, a distraction, and it sounds like that distraction has been removed.”
Pressure has been mounting from a bipartisan group of lawmakers for either Pritt to resign or for the Legislature to be called into special session by Gov. Patrick Morrisey so the House could vote to expel Pritt from office.
Last week, 82 members of the House Republican caucus signed a petition asking to be called into special session coinciding with legislative interim meetings already scheduled between Sunday, Aug. 9, and Tuesday, Aug. 11. The nine-member House Democratic caucus and two-member Senate Democratic caucus also submitted letters calling for a special session.
In statements over the weekend to multiple media outlets, Morrisey said he was working with legislative leadership to call a special session. With Pritt’s resignation, a special session is no longer necessary.
“Good riddance to the terrible former WV Delegate Elliot Pritt,” Morrisey said in a social media post Monday evening. “The GOP must always stand for integrity, protecting our kids, and maintaining our principles — happy for this result!”
According to West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner, if Pritt voluntarily withdraws as a Republican House candidate in the November general election, which has not yet occurred, a new law that went into effect last year would prevent the Fayette County Republican Executive Committee from appointing a replacement nominee.
“A felony conviction is a disqualifying factor for candidates seeking elected office,” Warner said in a statement last Friday. “However, candidates awaiting trial who have not been convicted of a disqualifying offense remain eligible to seek elected office, assuming no other disqualifier exists … Under our system of justice, every person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”
According to reporting by West Virginia Watch, the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee will consider a motion to disavow Pritt as a registered Republican at its summer meeting Saturday in Charleston.
During Monday’s press conference, Capito thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Herrald, HSI investigators, and Fayette County Sheriff Jess McMullen for their work in investigating the case. While this case has received much attention due to Pritt’s job as a teacher and his public service as a lawmaker, Capito stressed that there are several such cases involving the exploitation of children.
“I think it’s critical at times like this that we keep in mind that there are many children in our communities in the Southern District of West Virginia that are struggling,” Capito said. “Many children in our community that are afraid to come forward … that don’t want to deal with the impacts associated with being a victim of a crime like this, and at a time like this, I believe this to be an inflection point when we should all applaud the bravery of these victims.”
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