McDowell County sheriff's office arrests man in juvenile sex abuse case
Deputies said a report involving a 14-year-old in English led to Bobby Jim Kennedy’s arrest and put McDowell County’s new child-abuse task force to work.
A report from a home in the English area of McDowell County quickly moved beyond a single complaint and into a broader child-protection response, with deputies, Child Protective Services and investigators from the new crimes-against-children unit all pulled in. Bobby Jim Kennedy was arrested after officers said they developed probable cause in a case involving a 14-year-old girl.
Deputies said they responded June 7 to the residence after a report of a sexual assault involving the juvenile. Investigators interviewed the victim, witnesses and Kennedy before taking him to the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office for processing. Kennedy was charged with sexual assault in the second degree, child sexual abuse by a guardian, child abuse creating risk of injury, sexual abuse in the first degree and providing alcohol to a minor.
The charges place the case squarely inside the work of the McDowell County and Wyoming County Crimes Against Children Task Force, which was announced June 4 as a joint investigative unit focused on child victimization and exploitation. The task force was developed over several months by Wyoming County Sheriff Brad Ellison, Sgt. Tyler Sizemore, McDowell County Sheriff James “Boomer” Muncy and Deputy Brent Cline, and Sizemore and Cline will operate it. Officials said the unit will work with Stop The Hurt Child Advocacy Center, the West Virginia Department of Human Services, prosecutors and other community resources, with the goal of expanding investigative capacity, training, technology and victim services.
West Virginia law treats the charges as serious felony allegations. State code defines sexual assault in the second degree as sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion without consent when force or helplessness is involved, while first-degree sexual abuse can include sexual contact by a person age 14 or older with a child younger than 12. The child-abuse statute also makes certain sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust a felony punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison.
The sheriff’s office said the accusations are not proof and Kennedy is presumed innocent unless and until a court decides otherwise. Still, the arrest comes as McDowell County families are again looking closely at how abuse cases are identified, reported and handled in a county of 16,878 people, where 18.3% of residents are under 18. Stop The Hurt, Inc. operates in Welch and Pineville and provides child-advocacy services for McDowell and Wyoming counties, offering a child-friendly setting where protection, criminal justice and treatment professionals work together.
State advocates say the need is substantial. West Virginia Child Advocacy Network said child advocacy centers served 4,734 children from July 2024 to June 2025, and anyone in West Virginia who suspects child abuse or neglect can call the child abuse hotline at 1-800-352-6513. The investigation in McDowell County remains active, and additional court filings are expected as the case moves forward.
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