ALLEGHANY COUNTY VA (Hinton News) – On June 3, 2024 in the Alleghany County Circuit Court, Joseph Clay Marks, 40, of Wayside, West Virginia, was sentenced to 60 years in prison to be suspended after serving a 15-year active sentence for computer solicitation of a minor.
Marks pled guilty to three counts of using a computer or other electronic means to solicit a person he believed to be a minor under the age of 15. Alleghany County/City of Covington Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney, Sean P. Moran, summarized the evidence against Marks for the Court.
Sgt. Jeremy Morris of the Alleghany County Sheriff’s Office intercepted Marks’s electronic messages soliciting a person Marks believed to be a 14-year-old girl. The predatory messages included detailed proposals asking the girl to engage in various forms of sexual activity. Marks arranged to meet his intended victim in Covington.
On February 20, 2024, Marks drove from West Virginia to Alleghany County expecting to meet his victim. On his arrival, Marks was met by a team of law enforcement officers from the Alleghany County Sheriff’s Office, Covington Police Department, and the Virginia State Police. He was promptly arrested and taken into custody.
Once released from prison, Marks is ordered to have no unsupervised contact with minors and is prohibited from social media use. Marks will be required to register as a sex offender in accordance with the Virginia Sex Offender and Crimes against Minors Registry.
