MARLINTON, W.Va. — A former Pocahontas County sheriff’s deputy faces 10 to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced Friday morning on a sexual abuse conviction.
Bradley Totten, 41, of Hillsboro, pleaded guilty to one criminal count in July. Circuit Judge Jim Rowe will sentence him Friday morning in Marlinton.
Totten had originally been indicted on 66 separate counts stretching from 1995 to 2010. Those charges linked him to approximately two dozen women and girls over a 15-year period. Special Prosecutor Brian Parsons previously told MetroNews Totten would sexually abuse women after he had arrested them. Parsons said Totten also had sex with women on home confinement and on community corrections.
But Parsons opted to offer Totten a plea bargain instead of going through with all 66 counts. He said some of that decision was based on the opportunity of keeping some of the victims from testifying.
“There’s what you would like to do as a prosecutor in terms of securing a lot of potential jail time but you have to balance that with the interest of the victims and the interest of the public,” Parsons said after the July guilty plea. He also said he would not stand silent at Friday’s sentencing.
The sentencing is set for 10:15 Friday in Pocahontas County Circuit Court.