CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Just over a year after being arrested in Colorado, a Harrison County man has been convicted of a sex crime involving an underage female.
Jeremy Matthew Marple, 33, of Clarksburg, pleaded guilty Monday in Harrison County Circuit Court as part of a plea deal with the state in exchange for several other charges –some involving a second alleged victim– being dropped.
He was arrested in Colorado on October 2, 2014 by U.S. Marshals and Officers from the Violent Offenders Task Force and charged with 18 counts of crimes related to the sexual abuse of minors which was described by investigators as taking place from January 2014 through June of the same year.
Marple was put in jail after violating his parole from a 2012 daytime burglary offense and had to be put into protective custody after receiving death threats from other inmates who had appeared before his mother, Harrison County Magistrate Tammy Marple.
A sentencing hearing was scheduled for December 18, where Senior Judge Thomas Steptoe, Jr. –who was appointed to the case by the state Supreme Court due to the conflict of interest– will require Marple to register as a sex offender and could sentence him from 10 to 20 years in prison along with 50 years of supervised release.