by Kate Shunney
A Berkeley Springs man was sentenced to 16-80 years in prison last Thursday, February 6 in Morgan County Circuit Court for multiple counts of sexual abuse and failure to update his registry information with the West Virginia State Police Sex Offender Registry. 
Shannon W. Hill, 63, appeared before Judge Debra McLaughlin in orange prison clothing in restraints as attorneys and a spokesperson for the minor victims addressed the court on the matter of how long Hill would go to prison.
Hill had plead guilty to crimes against two minor victims on the day his felony trial was to begin late last year.
Morgan County Prosecuting Attorney Dan James asked Judge McLaughlin to impose the maximum allowable sentence on Hill, noting that his original indictment had been for crimes against three victims.
“These victims were very young,” James noted.
He credited “the courage of this young child” who went to a family member to report Hill’s sexual abuse, with offenses that spanned the years from 2012 to 2021.
“These crimes happen behind closed doors,” said James.
He told Judge McLaughlin that Sgt. Sam Smith of the West Virginia State Police brought the case to him after finding the reports from both young victims were consistent.
James also noted that Hill had committed the same crimes against a victim in Jefferson County 20 years ago, and that victim had been abused at roughly the same age as the victims in the Morgan County case.
James said investigators “diligently” tried to find that victim and was able to speak with her, but not extensively.
“Here we are, 20 years later, and he’s doing the same thing. He’s a predator. He acts upon little children,” James told the court.
He requested that prison time for each of the offenses run consecutively – back to back.
Defense Attorney David Skillman asked the court, on Hill’s behalf, to run prison sentences concurrently, together at one time.
“He recognizes it’s particularly heinous and he does have a history of these crimes,” said Skillman.
When Judge McLaughlin asked Hill if he would like to address the court before sentencing, he said, “No thank you.”
A court victim’s advocate read a letter from one of the victims, which was directed at Hill.
“You have changed me in the worst way possible,” the victim wrote. She said what he did made her feel “gross” about herself when she was able to understand it.
She expressed that she did not hate Hill, but was glad others would be safe from him and his abuse.
“I don’t want another family member going through what you did to me,” the letter said. “You deserve what is about to happen to you.”
Before pronouncing Hill’s sentence, Judge McLaughlin noted that she did not need a psycho-sexual evaluation of him to proceed to sentencing because he would not be a candidate for any alternative to prison.
“I find that you are a danger to the community,” Judge McLaughlin said.
“It’s probably better for you that I don’t have the psycho-sexual [report] because this court could find that you are a sexual predator,” she said.
For each of the three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, Hill was sentenced to not less than 5 and no more than 25 years, and he was sentenced to 1-5 years for failure to update his sex offender registry, for an effective sentence of 16-80 years in the state penitentiary. Hill will also have to serve out 50 years of supervised release if he makes it out of prison.
