Couple arrested for child abuse; two children taken into CPS custody due to found meth pipe

Two people were arrested and two kids were taken into the custody of Child Protective Services by the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department.

Wesley C. Hyde, 32, and Kelci J. Hyde, 29, both of Morgantown, were each charged with child abuse creating risk of injury. Wesley was also charged with wanton endangerment.

Deputies were called to the Pierpont Meadow Village home for a brandishing complaint about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to Sheriff Perry Palmer.

When they arrived, Wesley was in the driveway with two handguns tucked into his waistband, according to a criminal complaint. He said there were people inside his house who kept telling him to “shoot.”

Wesley said he hadn’t slept and he smoked meth the night before, the complaint said. He also told deputies he was in the yard looking for white men with red hair.

Neighbors said Wesley was running around the yard pointing a handgun at the house in a “frantic manner,” according to the complaint.

Kelci was in the living room and said Wesley thought there were people in the house so he was searching for them. She didn’t know how much meth they smoked the night before, according to the complaint.

Two boys were found in a back bedroom, the complaint said. Later, while searching the house with a warrant, a meth smoking pipe was found in the same bedroom where the kids were.

Palmer said CPS was called and the agency took custody of both children.

Calls like this one — involving firearms and a suspect on narcotics — can be dangerous for officers because the suspect can be that much more unpredictable, Palmer said.

The two were taken to North Central Regional Jail and arraigned by Magistrate Jim Nabors by video on Thursday afternoon. Kelci is being held in lieu of $3,500 and Wesley in lieu of $5,000 bond.

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