12 p.m.: Wellsburg man pleads no contest to sexual abuse

News First. News Fast.

By WARREN SCOTT, Staff writer

WELLSBURG - A Wellsburg man has pleaded no contest to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and will face sentencing.

Alan Henry DeGarmo, 56, of Wellsburg, who is the husband of Brooke County Superintendent of Schools Mary K. Hervey DeGarmo, entered the plea on Tuesday morning as court officials were prepared to select a jury for his trial.

Marshall County Prosecutor Jeff Cramer, who was named a special prosecutor for the case, said DeGarmo is set for sentencing on Aug. 14.

He noted a no contest plea isn't by law considered an admission of guilt but also doesn't mean the defendant will be treated more leniently than if he had entered a guilty plea.

Steve Herndon, DeGarmo's attorney, said his client has admitted he taught an 11-year-old boy to masturbate but denies he touched him in an inappropriate manner.

DeGarmo faces one to five years in jail for each count. Cramer said the sentence will depend on a pre-sentence investigation by a Brooke County probation officer detailing personal background information about DeGarmo.

Herndon said he will seek alternative sentencing, including counseling through a sexual offender treatment program, for his client.

DeGarmo had been indicted by a Brooke County grand jury in March 2008 on five counts of first-degree sexual abuse in connection with incidents alleged to have occurred between June 1, 2005, and Aug. 22, 2005, at the family's farm on Genteel Ridge.

Cramer said the victim and his family and the sheriff's deputy who investigated the case have supported three of the charges being dropped.

"If they hadn't accepted, we would have proceeded (with the trial)," he said.

News of the plea came after DeGarmo and Herndon entered the judge's chambers to speak privately with 1st Judicial Circuit Court Judge Ronald Wilson and Cramer while Brooke County residents called to serve as jurors waited in the courtroom.

Cramer was named a special prosecutor for the case because Brooke County Prosecutor David B. Cross' son, David F. Cross, represents the Brooke County school board and also is an assistant prosecutor for the county.

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