WV Delegate David Pritt Charged With Enticing Minor After Allegedly Telling Victim to Keep Quiet or 'Open Up Hell'

West Virginia House Assistant Majority Leader and high school teacher David Elliott Pritt has been arrested and federally charged with enticement of a minor, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of West Virginia.

The complaint alleges that Pritt, 36, warned the then-15-year-old victim that exposure would 'open up hell in our lives'. It sets out an alleged pattern of grooming that began on Roblox, later moved to Snapchat and escalated into alleged physical encounters in classroom settings during the 2025 school year.

Investigation Launched in July

The investigation began on 9 July after the family of a then-15-year-old girl reported that Pritt had allegedly sexually assaulted her, according to the complaint.

Pritt, 36, represents Fayette County's 50th House District and works as a Fayette County high school teacher, having previously taught middle school in the same county. The criminal complaint alleges that Pritt, a Republican, had sexual contact with a female student under the age of 18.

Alleged Grooming Pattern

According to the criminal complaint, Pritt began communicating with the victim and at least one other female student during the 2024-2025 school year through Roblox, with the conversations later moving to Snapchat and becoming increasingly personal.

By the end of that school year, according to the complaint, he had allegedly told her he 'loved her'.

A Platform Under Mounting Scrutiny

Pritt's case comes amid a surge of legal action targeting Roblox over child safety failures, with roughly 150 lawsuits now consolidated into a federal multi-district litigation in the Northern District of California.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sued Roblox and Discord last month, describing a 'two-stage predatory pipeline' in which adults pose as children on Roblox before directing victims to Discord, where exploitation escalates into solicitation and sextortion.

Court filings in that case cite Roblox's own disclosures to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which recorded 675 reports of suspected child sexual exploitation in 2019, a figure that climbed to more than 13,000 by 2023.

Escalation Over Summer

The complaint alleges that during summer 2025, Pritt sent an inappropriate photograph of himself and began requesting explicit images from the victim, later allegedly initiating a physical relationship.

The victim has described between five and ten alleged physical encounters in classroom settings during late 2025, according to the same filing.

Alleged Cover-Up and Political Fallout

The complaint states Snapchat messages continued until July 2026, with Pritt allegedly pressuring the victim to stay silent given his role as an educator and legislator.

Both Democratic and Republican colleagues, including Del. Mike Pushkin and Del. Tristan Leavitt, have publicly called for his resignation.

House spokesperson Ann Ali declined to comment further on his political future, citing due process.

Pritt was first elected as a Democrat in 2022 but switched to the Republican Party in April 2023, later being named Assistant Majority Leader of the House Republican Caucus by Speaker Roger Hanshaw for the 87th Legislature in 2025. He was re-elected in November 2024 with nearly 70 per cent of the vote in a three-way race.

Pritt is set for release on Monday, 27 July, with prosecutors invoking a 'rebuttable presumption' that he remain in custody. His next court appearance is scheduled for 27 July at 2 pm, and the House of Delegates has yet to take formal action on his seat.