NEW CUMBERLAND — A Hancock County judge sentenced a former county deputy to the maximum sentence allowable by law for possessing sexually explicit material involving underage persons.

Circuit Court Judge David Sims ordered Patrick Hoder to serve two years in prison Thursday, after Hoder pleaded guilty to possessing 50 or less images in November during a final pretrial hearing.

He originally had been set to face a jury trial in December for allegedly possessing more than 600 images.

A defense request for home confinement instead of incarceration was denied.

Hoder also will be on 10 years of supervised release after prison and have to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

Hoder had been charged in August 2024 with felony distribution or exhibition of sexually explicit conduct involving minors (600 or more images), after a West Virginia State Police investigation had traced the images to him.

Upon learning of the initial investigations, Hancock County Sheriff Scott Gittings immediately put Hoder on administrative leave and later elected to terminate him once criminal charges resulted.

Hoder had been a longtime K-9 handler as well as overseeing some of the office’s community outreach programs.