Marshall Co. Schools Administrator, Former McNinch Teacher Indicted On Multiple Charges In Child Abuse Case
Trending
The former McNinch Elementary teacher and the Marshall County Schools administrator arrested in connection with a 2025 student abuse case both were indicted by a Marshall County grand jury on multiple felonies.
Former teacher Kiersten Moses was indicted on four felony counts of battery on a disabled child, one felony count child abuse and one felony count of strangulation, as well as two misdemeanor counts of maltreatment. Moses originally was arrested on charges that she grabbed a 6-year-old girl with nonverbal autism by the neck and squeezing. Marshall County Prosecutor Joe Canestraro said that, during the investigation, it was found that Moses allegedly battered a second student. Three of the counts of battery of a disabled child come from the original alleged incident, Canestraro said. The fourth comes from an alleged incident with the second student.
Marshall County Schools Director of Special Programs Erin Cuffaro was indicted on nine felony counts of child neglect. Canestraro said that comes from allegedly leaving the students in that classroom under Moses’ supervision prior to the allegations being reported.
Cuffaro also was indicted on two misdemeanor counts, one of failing to report child abuse or neglect and one count of providing false information to a state trooper.
Moses resigned from her position, while Cuffaro remains suspended without pay pending the outcome of the case.
Former McNinch principal Jane Duffy was charged with one misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse or neglect. Duffy, who retired, has another pretrial hearing scheduled in Marshall County Magistrate Court on July 24.
According to the original criminal complaint against Moses in December 2025, a West Virginia State Trooper was investigating a complaint made on Oct. 8 of alleged abuse of a McNinch student on Sept. 18. According to the complaint, Moses allegedly grabbed a 6-year-old girl, who is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum, by the neck with both hands and squeezed.
The incident was recorded on video, according to the complaint and the trooper reviewed the video. In his report, he said he saw Moses interact with the girl near a door in the special needs classroom. The girl appeared to become agitated and advance toward Moses. Moses allegedly reacted by placing both hands on the child’s neck and squeezing for about six seconds.
According to the complaint, a school aide witnessed the incident and took the girl to the nurse’s office, where the nurse took photos of red marks on the girl’s neck. According to the complaint, the trooper reviewed more video from Sept. 16, where Moses stood behind the girl, grabbed her arms and pulled them in a criss-cross behind the girl’s back “in a needless and uncomfortable position.”
According to the complaints against Duffy and Cuffaro, the aide alerted Duffy to the incident and Duffy reported the incident to Cuffaro. According to the complaints, both reviewed the video of the incident.
The trooper asked Duffy why she did not report the incident through the Child Abuse Hotline. Duffy’s position makes her a mandated reporter who must report any incident of child abuse within 24 hours. Duffy allegedly showed the trooper a text message from Cuffaro which read, “My day is crazy. She did put her hands on (the student’s) neck briefly. Please talk with her about this. Not a verbal reprimand at this point, but tell her to watch putting her hands on children when it is not necessary.”
The trooper then spoke to Cuffaro on multiple occasions, according to the complaints. The trooper said Cuffaro told him she did tell Duffy to give Moses a verbal reprimand. When confronted about the text message, Cuffaro allegedly told the trooper she did not send it and offered to show him proof.
According to the complaints, the trooper said it appeared the message had been deleted, as was everything else prior to that specific message. Everything after that specific message remained on the phone. According to the complaints, Cuffaro later admitted to sending the message.