Published: June 08, 2009 09:37 pm      

Alaska probe leads to McDowell arrest on sex crimes charges

WELCH — An investigation into the discovery of sexually explicit photographs of a juvenile found at a residence in Alaska has resulted in the arrest of a McDowell County woman on multiple charges, police said Monday.

Stacy Wright-Farmer, 31, of Cucumber, is charged with sexual assault first-degree, sexual abuse first degree, sexual abuse by a custodian, incest, distribution of child pornography and child endangerment, according to Senior Trooper B.J. Garrettson of the West Virginia State Police Welch Detachment.

Garrettson said officials in McDowell County were contacted Sunday by a federal agent in Alaska representing the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency. Garrettson said the call was in reference to a search warrant that was executed at a residence in Alaska.

Garrettson said the search warrant in Alaska uncovered several photographs of Wright-Farmer and a female juvenile that were “sexually explicit” and “pornographic in nature.”

“After looking at the photos, we served the search warrant on the residence of Mrs. Farmer who was staying out over in the Cucumber area in McDowell County in which several computers, digital cameras, and digital recorders were seized during the execution of our search warrant,” Garretson said. “Mrs. Farmer was arrested last night and taken to the Welch holding facility. There are several different charges stemming from sexual assault first-degree, sexual abuse first-degree, sexual abuse by a parent or custodian, incest, distribution of child pornography and child endangerment. There were a total of 75 counts.”

Garrettson was assisted in the investigation by Cpl. D.C. Eldridge, Cpl. C.K. Moton, Senior Trooper K.L. Pack, Senior Trooper J.W. Keffer, and Trooper B.A. Woods with assistance from agents with the U.S. Immigrations and Customs service.

“This is still an ongoing investigation,” Garrettson said.

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com