A 32-year-old Preston County man is facing charges is Monongalia County following accusations of sexual abuse of two girls, ages 14 and 11.
The juveniles’ mother called law enforcement to their residence on Feb. 7 after she was made aware of allegations of inappropriate behavior against Neal Albert by both daughters.
According to the criminal complaint, deputies were provided with a cell phone left at the residence which allegedly belonged to Albert. The phone was seized by deputies and a search warrant was later obtained to perform a digital forensic exam on the device.
Within a few days of the report, the victims were interviewed by the Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center where they said Albert had been communicating with them on a site called Discord. Albert allegedly went by the username “elvesleader” on the site.
One of the juveniles said Albert had asked her to send a photo of herself “shirtless” through Discord and she complied.
West Virginia State Police Digital Forensic Unit examined the phone allegedly belonging to Albert and provided detectives with a copy of their findings.
Multiple images were allegedly found on the device that were consistent with children engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including three images of a pre-teen juvenile in a state of undress, taken in a residential bathroom. The images were confirmed to be one of the victims, the complaint said.
On July 19, investigators spoke with Albert during a voluntary interview in which he confirmed the phone belonged to him and he was the sole user. He admitted to communicating with the two girls via Discord, but denied requesting shirtless images, saying the girls “were like daughters to him.”
Based off the information and evidence obtained through the investigation, detectives believe Albert was in possession of images of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including the pictures of the victims.
Albert is facing four different charges including sexual abuse of a minor by a parent, guardian, or custodian; use of minors in filming sexually explicit conduct; sending, distributing, exhibiting, possessing material by a parent; and soliciting a minor by means other than via computer.
Monongalia County Magistrate Judge Dimas Reyes set bail for Albert at $140,000 cash or surety at an arraignment hearing held Monday. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. He is currently being held at Tygart Valley Regional Jail.
