An officer of the law in West Virginia has reportedly admitted to sexually abusing a young girl, according to the authorities.
Christopher Allen Guinup, 45 years old, has been taken into custody and charged with sexual abuse in the first degree as well as sexual abuse by a parent or guardian, as stated by the Marion County Sheriff Roger Cunningham.
The sheriff stated that in May, deputies were given a referral to investigate allegations of sexual abuse made by a girl who is now 13 years old. The referral came from child protective services.
According to Cunningham, the abuse that was reported took place in 2021, when the victim was nine years old.
According to the deputies, Guinup was questioned about the abuse on two separate occasions, and during the second interview, he admitted to having committed the abuse.
Before Guinup was taken into custody, the Fairmont Police Department reportedly put him on administrative leave, as stated by Cunningham.
In a statement that was released on Wednesday, the city stated that they were also immediately beginning the process to terminate his employment.
“We want to be clear on the seriousness of the allegations against Christopher Guinup: they are a blemish on the badge of law enforcement and an affront to the profession,” according to a statement from the city. “They in no way reflect the character and quality of our law enforcement personnel, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”
The North Central Regional Jail is currently in the process of transporting Guinup, and the bond that has been set for him is one hundred thousand dollars.
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A man who was killed in a vehicle accident with a police truck was named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit that was filed against Guinup in March of 2020. This lawsuit was filed in a separate incident.
Guinup was a passenger in a police truck that was traveling at 73 miles per hour in a 35-mile per hour zone when there was no emergency that required the vehicle to be traveling at that speed.
According to the lawsuit, Guinup was named as a defendant because he did not take any action to convince the officer who was driving the truck to slow down, activate the siren, or flash the lights.
The victim’s wife reached a tentative settlement with the city of Fairmont, the officer driving, and Guinup for the amount of $1.8 million, according to a court filing that was made in August of 2020.
