KINGWOOD— A Preston County man was charged with criminal invasion of privacy for allegedly posting nude photos of a woman on a porn website without her permission.
Rodney Keith Moats, 34, of Kingwood, was charged this week. He was freed on $500 bond.
According to a criminal complaint by Preston Sheriff’s Capt. T.N. Tichnell, a detective in Burlington, Vermont, contacted him about an internet invasion of privacy case related to images posted on Pornhub.
The IP address used came back to a Terra Alta resident, according to the complaint. Vermont police found a Facebook profile Moats had created, called “ripoutthewingsofabutterfly4yoursoul.”
The victim had sent sexually explicit photos of herself to Moats, whom Vermont police said was masquerading as “Dr. Ashton Christian Drake.”
According to the complaint, when interviewed by Preston deputies on Aug. 28, Moats “eventually admitted to having ‘done revenge porn’ while using the name Christian Drake but mentioned a different name than that of the Vermont woman who contacted police.
The Vermont victim said she had sent the images around 2014 and 2018 and did not give permission to reproduce or publish the images. They were posted online about Feb. 14, 2020, police said.
Detective Tom Chenette of the Burlington Police Department said because of the nature of internet investigations, charges can be filed in either state. In this case, it made sense for the state where the alleged perpetrator lived to prosecute, he said.
The law is commonly referred to as the “revenge porn” statute, Chenette said.
“The Burlington Vermont Police Department and the Preston County West Virginia Sheriff’s Department worked jointly on this investigation and we thank them for their professional and proficient work to close the case and provide justice for the victim,” Detective Chenette told the newspaper.
TWEET@DominionPostWV
