Upshur County Man Convicted of Sex Offense Against Minor

 BECKLEY, W.Va. – A federal jury convicted an Upshur County man yesterday of attempted sex trafficking of a minor. George Albert Romer, Jr., 63, of Buckhannon was charged by a single-count Indictment in November 2019.

Evidence at trial revealed that on October 31, 2019, Romer began communicating via a dating application with a person he understood to be a 15-year-old girl in Lewisburg, West Virginia. During the messages, Romer offered to pay the girl $100 to engage in sexual intercourse. On November 1, 2019, Romer drove from Buckhannon to Lewisburg and rented a hotel room in order to meet the minor. He was placed under arrest shortly thereafter.

Romer faces at least 10 years and up to life in prison when he is sentenced on October 18, 2021. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.  

“The work of the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force is critical in our efforts to combat child sexual exploitation,” said Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston.  “I congratulate all those who worked on this case, including Assistant United States Attorneys Jennifer Rada Herrald and Courtney Cremeans, and the rest of the trial team for bringing this sex offender to justice.” 

The Honorable United States District Judge Frank W. Volk presided over the trial. 

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.