Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office seeks juvenile petitions against Greenbrier West High School students
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office investigators have requested that juvenile petitions be filed against multiple Greenbrier West High School students, Raleigh County Sheriff Jim Canaday said on Thursday, March 21, 2024.
Canaday did not disclose the charges nor the number of juveniles who are being charged and did not offer the ages.
All involved in the incident are males, Canaday said.
“It’s a horrific incident, and it kind of goes above and beyond what kids do, ‘being kids,'” said Sheriff Canaday. “A lot of times, we use the term, ‘This is kids being kids.’ I don’t think, in this situation, it was just the kids being kids thing, and, as much as we want that to happen, sometimes, and just let kids be kids, this isn’t one of those times.”
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He said the charges are a result of an investigation which began after the GWHS wrestling team stayed at a Beckley hotel for a wrestling tournament in late February. The Public Resource Office at Greenbrier West contacted the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department after the tournament to report the alleged incident.
“I’m not going to get into the charges just because they’re still under review,” Sheriff Canaday said. “They’re subject to change. As I said before, this a very fluid investigation. Until they’re actually filed, the charges are subject to change. What I will say, is, the investigation did bring forth some allegations or we believe we’ve been able to corroborate some allegations that are very serious.”
Greenbrier West High School minors allegedly involved in Beckley incident
He said the investigation is ongoing and that additional persons could be charged. He added that a secondary investigation could develop from details learned in the current case but declined to offer further details.
Sheriff Canaday said detectives had interviewed staff members at GWHS.
“I think, as any person would, the staff are probably shocked by some of the allegations,” he said. “Sometimes, you don’t think, or you don’t want to think, that things like this can happen. So, I think that ‘shocked’ would probably be a good term. I don’t know that anybody’s been non-cooperative.”
Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield said on Thursday that additional information could be released as early as Friday, March 22, 2024, but added he would not share details in the petitions, since the case involves juveniles.
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