West Virginia Supreme Court rules in felony solicitation case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Supreme Court has ruled a Parkersburg man’s Fourth Amendment rights were not violated when a detective grabbed a cell phone out of his hand during a felony solicitation case. Justice Beth Walker ruled the officer had ample reason that the suspect would have deleted information if he did not act.

In December of 2016 a Bridgeport Police Department detective responded to a Craigslist add as a 15-year-old female placed by Josh Deem. Deel answered the inquiry and soon moved to text messages where Deem asked for nude pictures and talked about meeting for a sexual encounter.

In February of 2017 Detectives interviewed Deem at his Parkerburg home. When police asked Deem for the phone he refused. While in the presence of Deem, police called his number and the phone in his pocket began to ring. Deem took the phone out of his pocket while the detective told him he had originated the call. Ultimately, the detective grabbed the phone from Deem.

Two days later, police obtained a search warrant and located incriminating evidence.

Deem asked the court to throw out any evidence from the because of a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Justice Walker ruled in part,” The detective had reacted to the situation before him based on his experience that the kind of evidence he suspected was in Deem’s phone is frequently removed, altered, or destroyed.”

Deem, who was convicted of the charge in March, 2018, was sentenced to 2 to 10 years in August of 2018, but the court then suspended the sentence and placed him on supervised probation for three years.