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WELLSBURG - A Brooke County man is facing 20 to 40 years in prison after being sentenced on charges of sexual abuse.
William Robert Hilty, 59, of Beech Bottom, was sentenced July 13 to at least 20 and no more than 40 years by First Judicial Circuit Court Judge Jason Cuomo.
Hilty pleaded guilty on April 20 to two counts of sexual abuse by a custodian, according to County Prosecuting Attorney Allison Cowden, which has a sentence under state law of between 10 and 20 years for each charge. Cuomo ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.
Hilty will be required to register as a sex offender for life, according to Cowden, and will have placed on 50 years of extended supervision upon satisfying his sentence.
The Brooke County Sheriff's Office received a report from Ruby Memorial Hospital, in Morgantown, on April 29, 2024, regarding a 9-year-old child who had been sexually abused.
According to Cowden, the child was interviewed at the Comfort House Child Advocacy Center.
Hilty would be subsequently interviewed by Deputy Gary Conley, where Cowden said he admitted to touching the child inappropriately while the child was in his care.
Hilty was indicted by a Brooke County grand jury in June 2025 on two counts each of first-degree sexual assault and sexual assault of a minor within his care.
He currently is being held in the West Virginia Northern Regional Jail.