Judge Sets Nov. 10 Hearing on Pritt's Request for VA Treatment

CHARLESTON, W.Va. A federal judge will hold a detention hearing Nov. 10 at 1:30 p.m. in the U.S. courthouse in Charleston to consider former state delegate Elliott Pritt's request to leave jail for inpatient mental health treatment while awaiting trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Omar Aboulhosn said the court will review written filings from both sides and any additional information before ruling on whether conditions of release can assure Pritt's appearance and the safety of the community.

Pritt, 36, a former Fayette County teacher and member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, was charged in federal court with child sexual exploitation, coercion of a minor and witness tampering. He is accused of enticing a 15-year-old girl to produce explicit images and engage in sexual conduct. He taught social studies and history and represented a Fayette County district in the Legislature at the time of the alleged offenses.

Pritt resigned from the Legislature and withdrew from the coming election after his arrest. The Fayette County Board of Education suspended then terminated his employment. He has been held at the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, Kentucky, and had earlier waived a detention hearing.

His defense has asked that he be released into his brother's custody for a 45-to-60-day residential program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg. An acceptance letter from the VA sets a Nov. 17 admission date. Pritt served in the U.S. Air Force from 2008 to 2014.

Federal prosecutors oppose the plan. In filings, they argued that Pritt received outpatient mental health care and medication for two years before his arrest and sought inpatient admission only after being jailed. They wrote that the Martinsburg facility does not confirm a locked-down unit, electronic home incarceration or third-party custodian supervision, and that Pritt offered no plan for where he would go after the 45-to-60-day program ends. Using the campus map, prosecutors noted the treatment location sits near the facility's Internet Cafe and main hospital building, where minor visitors are regularly present.

Pritt has been charged with sexually exploiting a student. The detention hearing is scheduled for Nov. 10.