PRINCETON —
A Concord University police officer is behind bars after being arrested on multiple sexual abuse charges.
Randy Keith Cordle, 47, of Athens, was arrested Monday and charged with one count of third-degree sexual assault and five counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian.
Sgt. M.D. Clemons, of the West Virginia State Police Crimes Against Children Unit, said the victim was a family member. “It (the abuse) started when she was 15,” Clemons said. “He was in a caretaker role.”
Clemons said no inappropriate behavior was alleged to have occurred at the university. “It happened at his residence.”
A criminal complaint filed in Mercer County Magistrate Court states that the victim advised that she had sexual intercourse and engaged in other sexual acts with Cordle beginning in 2011 when she was 15. The victim said the last instance of sexual intercourse occurred at the Mercer County Airport in May of this year, while the previous incidents occurred at Cordle’s residence in the Lashmeet area, the complaint states.
Cordle admitted having intercourse with the victim, a teenage female, on multiple occasions when he was interviewed by Clemons, according to the criminal complaint.
The complaint also states that Cordle told Clemons the victim and another teenage family member (who was not abused) would stay with him on weekends and that “they (the victim’s parents) trusted him to take care of them, and that he loved the kids like they were his own.”
Clemons said Concord University officials cooperated with her in the investigation. “They took the appropriate actions,” she said.
Concord University Interim Vice President of Advancement Alicia Suka Besenyei said Cordle was placed on administrative leave with pay when university officials were advised of the investigation by the State Police.
Cordle was arraigned Monday, and is currently being held at the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver.
— Contact Samantha Perry at sperry@bdtonline.com
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