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A sex crimes investigation by the WV State Police caused a countywide lockdown of Clay County schools Friday.
Police arrested Derrick Glasser, 39, originally of Florida, on four sexual abuse charges, police saying the victim is alleged to be a 6-year-old girl.
Police say Glasser had registered a child with a Mexican birth certificate, and authorities feared she might have been kidnapped.
Police interviewed the child and she stated that she lived with Glasser in an old school bus and they slept in the same bed, but she was not kidnapped.
Clay Superintendent Kenneth Tanner says State Police called him around 10:00 a.m. and advised him that all six schools in the county needed to be on lock down while they searched for the suspect, saying they believed he had specific ties to Clay Elementary.
"Rumors spread quickly and we had a run on parents coming in to sign out kids," Tanner told WCHS-TV.
State police asked Tanner to not allow any students to be signed out of county schools.
The superintendent said the lockdown was something that angered many parents who weren't notified by the school because police had specifically asked them not to.
Tanner said officials said it was a matter of public safety, and would perhaps hinder the investigation.
"During this whole planning process, and investigation process, the safety of the public at large was of the utmost important to us," said Captain D.L. Lemon.
Glasser was taken into custody without incident and was arrested at a community along Beechy Ridge Road in the Hartland area of Clay.
Police are not releasing details surrounding Glasser's charges, except that they were presented with information that made them question the child's living conditions.
ORIGINAL STORY/FRIDAY
CLAY SCHOOLS PUT ON LOCKDOWN FRIDAY - Problem Related To 'Student Leaving'
The elementary, middle and high schools in Clay County were placed on lockdown Friday.
Clay County police responded to the lockdown and surrounded the school, after which parents began showing up to the school to remove their children, but were told they couldn't be released due to the lockdown.
While details are sketchy, Kenneth Tanner, superintendent for Clay County, said the lockdown was to prevent "an unauthorized sign out of a certain student."
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