MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — There’s finally justice for four women who were repeatedly raped by their father several decades earlier when they were children. A Monongalia County jury has convicted Frank Russell Snider, 77, of Route 7, Morgantown of 20 counts of sexual assault.
According to testimony, Snider repeatedly raped his four daughters and step-daughters from the late 1960s through the 1970s when the children were between the ages of six and 15. Several of the victims testified they were assaulted hundreds of times.
“We could have charged him with a thousand counts,” said Monongalia County Assistant Prosecutor Gail Lipscomb, who handled the case.
Lipscomb said the girls eventually left home when they could, moved away and tried to get on with their lives. However, each ended up in therapy and just recently one of victims decided to come forward. The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department spent months on the investigation, tracking down the women who had moved to other parts of the country.
Lipscomb said the sisters, who are now in their 40s and 50s, had little contact with each other over the years. The investigation brought them back to Morgantown to testify against their father. Snider denied the allegations during the trial, but the jury deliberated just one hour before finding him guilty. Lipscomb said there is finally justice for the victims.
“You have to account for the past and it comes back to haunt you,” Lipscomb said. “He got to live a life that he didn’t deserve, while his daughters suffered throughout their lives. But now there’s been a reckoning and these women are finally free.”
Snider is in jail awaiting sentencing.