West Virginia State Police troopers have jailed a Berkeley Springs man on charges that he violated the requirements of his sec offender registry here.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Morgan County Magistrate Court, Roy Rankin Jr., 36, of Rankin Lane was arrested on a warrant issued September 22 for failing to register or update information with the West Virginia Sex Offender Registry.
Sgt. J.D See reported that the State Police had been contacted in July by Rankin’s parole officer, who asked that Rankin’s cell phone be examined.
At that time, Rankin was on parole for a Pennsylvania conviction in 2019 for indecent assault and corruption of minors. The sex offender registry specifies that Rankin’s victim was a female under the age of 5, and that Rankin served three months in prison and given five years’ probation.
Sgt. See reported that Rankin’s parole has special conditions, including that he was not to purchase or use any explicit materials or devices, that he was not permitted to use any computer or device with internet access without authorization of his parole officer, and that he must report any internet access or accounts to the parole officer.
Upon examining the SIM card in Rankin’s cell phone, the West Virginia State Police found the device contained instant messages, social media accounts, web bookmarks and web internet history, plus data files from more than 100,000 images, 5,158 videos and texts, plus an email address.
Police reportedly found no pornographic images or evidence of child pornography but did find photos of young girls and videos of young girls dancing.
Rankin’s sex offender registry information had not been updated to reflect his new cell phone number or his email address.
Rankin was jailed at the Eastern Regional Jail in lieu of a $20,000 cash or surety bond.