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Area man sentenced in child sexual abuse case

WELLSBURG – A Follansbee man on Tuesday was sentenced to 35 to 120 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count each of first-degree sexual assault of a child and sexual abuse by a custodian.

The latter charge is brought against individuals accused of abusing a child in their care.

The sentence for Danny R. Six, 40, of Follansbee, came through a plea agreement in which nine other counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child and four other counts of a sexual abuse by a custodian were dropped.

Six was indicted on the 15 counts by a Brooke County grand jury in March. Prior to the plea agreement, he faced 10 to 20 years in prison for each count of sexual abuse by a custodian and 25 to 100 years of incarceration for each count of first-degree sexual assault of a child, based on the age of the child.

Brooke County Prosecutor Joseph Barki III said the two counts to which Six pleaded occurred between November 2007 and November 2008.

Barki said Six confessed to the crimes on more than one occasion in the course of the investigation by the Brooke County Sheriff’s Department.

Before approving the sentence, Circuit Court Judge Ronald Wilson reminded Six he was waiving his right to a trial and appeal by entering the plea agreement.

Wilson had earlier given similar instructions to Six and four others entering plea agreements Tuesday. But he said in light of the lengthy sentence, it bore repeating.

Barki said Six may not be considered for parole for at least 35 years.

Plea agreements also were approved Tuesday for Duane Whear, 25, of Wellsburg; Shawn Yoders, 34, of Colliers; Aaron D. Davis, 30, of Weirton; and David Null, 68, of Colliers.

Whear pleaded guilty to fraudulent use of an access device, specifically a credit card issued by a former employer.

Assistant Brooke County Prosecutor David F. Cross said in summer 2012 Whear approached people at local gas stations, offering to use the card to provide gas to them in exchange for a portion of the cost in cash, which he kept for himself.

A condition of the plea agreement was that Whear pay to the company restitution of about $9,100, including a $7,000 initial payment, with the remainder to follow in increments.

He also was sentenced to two years supervised probation, a reduction from the 10 years imprisonment which is the penalty for the crime under state law.

Yoders pleaded guilty of unlawfully entering a residence without breaking into it in connection for entering a Colliers home on Feb. 22, 2011.

Cross said Yoders took cash and keys from a purse in the home and fled when he was surprised by a resident there.

Faced with one to 10 years imprisonment, he was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and ordered to pay $278 in restitution through his plea agreement.

Davis pleaded guilty to conspiring to break into and enter a home in November 2012 and was sentenced to three years probation, a reduction from the one to five years imprisonment he faced.

Barki said Davis and another man planned to enter the home to remove copper from it but didn’t enter it. A case against the other man, Zjaque Douglass of Weirton, is pending in circuit court.

Null pleaded guilty to cultivating marijuana in his home in August 2012 and was sentenced to one year of probation, including drug abuse counseling, a reduction from one to five years imprisonment he faced.

Barki said Null told police he has never sold the drug, using it only for himself, and there’s no evidence that wasn’t the case.

He added Null has been cooperative since his arrest, which occurred following an anonymous tip made to the West Virginia State Police.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com)

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