Fayette County man arrested on child abuse charges

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — The Fayette County Sheriff’s Department arrested a Mount Hope man on charges of physically abusing a child from the Oak Hill area.

According to a release from Sheriff Mike Fridley, a student at Oak Hill High School informed a school counselor and School Resource Officer at the school that she had been physically abused and beaten by her step-father on January 9, 2017.

That interview took place on Wednesday, January 11.

Following interviews with the minor child, other children living in the home, her mother and step-father, police arrested Joshua Emmanuel Petite, 31, of Mount Hope on charges of child abuse resulting in injury.

“Cases of this nature are always difficult,” Sheriff Fridley said. “Parents certainly have the right to discipline their children, including the use of corporal punishment, but no one has the right to physically abuse and injure a child. The level of injury sustained by this child during this alleged incident certainly rises above the level of mere discipline.”

This incident remains under investigation by Detective-Corporal J.M. Pack of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, the Child Protective Services division of DHHR and by the Just For Kids, Inc. Child and Youth Advocacy Center.





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