A Bridgeport man was arrested and charged with third degree sexual abuse after the victim, a female juvenile, reported incidents of sexual abuse that occurred few years ago.
In January, West Virginia State Police Corporal Matthew Sternart spoke with an individual who, according to a criminal complaint, reported a juvenile had been “the victim of a sex crime” and “the victim was groped by an adult male during the summers of 2019 and 2020” in the Cheat Lake area of Monongalia County.
The caller identified the male as Brian Edward Morton, 51, of Bridgeport.
According to the complaint, a forensic interview with the victim was conducted at the Monongalia Child Advocacy Center, where she stated the initial incident occurred in August 2019 when she was 13 years old and Morton was driving her and her siblings home from the lake. She said Morton would later talk about the incident during the following summer of 2020.
The victim told the interviewer that as Morton was driving he reached over and touched her inappropriately under her clothing for about two minutes. The victim also said that as Morton was touching her he commented she “looked good in a bathing suit and that she was attractive,” according to the complaint.
The victim said that her younger siblings were in the back seat of the truck when the incident occurred and that she did not say anything to Morton during the touching because she was too scared.
According to the complaint, the victim disclosed what happened to a friend, who then informed the adult who contacted the State Police and Cpl. Sternart in January.
Morton was released from custody after posting a $10,000 bond.
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