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Convicted Murderer Staying at YSS

WHEELING – A convicted murderer who was living at a Youth Services System facility on Wheeling Island for months was arrested Monday with pornographic cell phone images of a young girl and a loaded gun in his bedroom, according to West Virginia State Police.

Shelton Cash was arraigned Tuesday on five counts of possession of child pornography and a single count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Cash, 44, of Elkview, W.Va., remained in the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville in lieu of $100,000 cash bond late Tuesday.

A 12-year-old girl recently told a Kanawha County sheriff’s deputy Cash had sex with her and captured cell phone images of the acts, court documents state. Those allegations were passed along to State Police Sgt. Scott Adams, because Cash has been working locally for a mining company.

On Monday, a state trooper and an Ohio County sheriff’s deputy met Cash at the YSS facility on Indiana Street where has has been staying. Officers executed a search warrant at the residence and seized Cash’s cell phone, which contained five pornographic images of Cash and the girl engaged in sex acts, court documents state.

Officers also located a loaded handgun under the pillow on Cash’s bed. In 1992, Cash was convicted of first-degree murder in Marshall County.

He served 16 years in prison and was paroled in 2008.

According to Adams, Cash was living at the YSS facility and working locally during the week. He returned to Kanawha County, where the alleged sex acts occurred, on the weekends. The girl disclosed the alleged crimes to her mother, who contacted the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 6 before Ohio County Magistrate Joe Roxby. As of Tuesday, Cash had not been appointed an attorney to represent him.

Because Cash was arrested in Ohio County while in possession of the pornography and the firearm, those cases will proceed locally.

Charges addressing the alleged sex acts between Cash and the girl would be filed in Kanawha County.

YSS Executive Director John Moses on Tuesday said Cash reached out to the agency for assistance. Cash has been living at the Wheeling Island residential facility, which is blocks away from Madison Elementary School, for about three months, Moses said.

“YSS operates a winter freeze shelter from December to March and from time to time, people outside of that time frame have been in circumstances where they find themselves homeless,” Moses said. “We have offered that building, which has been vacant since 2009, as a temporary refuge for people until they can get their affairs in order, find affordable housing and then move on.”

Moses said the agency does not conduct background checks on any homeless people who receive assistance, including Cash.

He was not aware Cash was employed locally, as Sgt. Adams said, and living in Kanawha County on the weekends.

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