Background: The Arlington Mini Mart in West Virginia where Kenneth Cutright, inset, was arrested one June 9, 2024. (Booking photo courtesy Upshur County Sheriff’s Office; background image via Google Maps.)
A father has been arrested and charged with child neglect creating risk of injury after police say he planted a 7-ounce bag of meth on one of his two young daughters during a routine traffic stop outside of a convenience store in West Virginia.
Kenneth Cutirght, 36, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, child neglect with risk of injury, prohibited person with a firearm and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, according to publicly available jail records.
He is currently detained at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail in Belington, West Virginia.
Cutright was stopped by an Upshur County Sheriff’s officer on June 6 just near the Arlington Mini Mart on West Virginia Route 20 in Arlington, according to local NBC affiliate WBOY. Cutright drew the officer’s attention thanks to a dark window tint and a particularly loud exhaust from his car.
The sheriff’s office reported that when Cutright was pulled over, he was unable to provide matching registration information for the car and he didn’t have legitimate inspection stickers. A deputy determined in short order, according to WBOY, that the car had also been stolen from Lawrence County, Ohio, around 200 miles away.
Both of Cutright’s daughters were in the back seat of the allegedly stolen vehicle. Deputies said the girls were 12 and 14 years old.
Cutright allegedly denied knowing the car was stolen and claimed he “trade his Hummer for it to a guy” but had insisted he hadn’t yet signed off on any title work. Police reportedly asked the 36-year-old father of two to step out of his vehicle not long after this exchange and had Cutright’s daughters also get out and stand to the side.
Police said when they asked whether there were any contraband items in the vehicle, Cutright said there were not but refused a search. As the officers waited for someone to pick up Cutright’s daughters, they reportedly noted that he continually “hovered” around them while he had his back to deputies.
This promptly raised the suspicion of the arresting officer that Cutright “may have concealed something on his kids,” WBOY reported.
Once someone arrived to pick up the teen girls, police questioned one of Cutright’s daughters about an object in her hoodie.
“It was just a bag,” Cutright’s daughter allegedly told police as she started to cry. Her father called out to her, telling her to get back in the car but police said they were ultimately able to retrieve a 7-ounce bag of meth from her.
A search of Cutright’s car after this point turned up a meth pipe as well as a 9 mm pistol. The gun was loaded.
It is unclear if Cutright has obtained an attorney at this time. For the child neglect charge alone, if convicted and he is a first-time offender, Cutright could face one to three years in prison.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
