Preston County man accused of assaulting child as many as 100 times

KINGWOOD — A Rowlesburg man is charged with sexual abuse after allegedly confessing to having assaulted a child up to 100 times over a 12-year period, both in Preston County and elsewhere.

Dewayne Franklin Watring, 51, was in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail Wednesday in lieu of $500,000 bond. He was charged with one count of felony sexual abuse. Charges can be added after an arrest or when an individual is indicted by the grand jury. They also can be dropped.

According to the criminal complaint by Preston Sheriff’s Lt. J.H. Bryan: Watring came to the sheriff’s department Monday and said he wanted to confess to assaulting the victim up to 100 times from 1997-2009 or ‘10, from the age of 6 until 18 or 19 years old.

The assaults included both sexual intercourse and oral sex, according to the complaint. Bryan interviewed a witness who said she saw an assault occur about 2005.