Former Buckhannon Mayor & Councilman Sentenced For Child Pornography

Saturday, June 14, 2025, 9:50 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

CLARKSBURG, W.VA.- A 66-year-old Buckhannon, West Virginia, man, and former disgraced Buckhannon Mayor and Councilman learned that he could potentially die in federal prison after being sentenced on Thursday to a decade of imprisonment for a federal child pornography offense.

     According to Acting U.S. Attorney Randolph J. Bernard, on Thursday, June 12, 2025, David Walter McCauley, 66, of Buckhannon, West Virginia, appeared in this U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia and was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Thomas S. Kleeh to 120 months in federal prison, to be followed by ten years of supervised release for his conviction of Production of Child Pornography.

McCauley Entices Teen Boy To Engage In Sexual Conduct

     According to charging documents filed with the District Court, during an investigation into Internet child pornography activities, McCauley was identified as utilizing the Internet to coerce and entice a 17-year-old boy to engage in sexually explicit conduct in creating digital images and video files of the conduct.

     During the course of the investigation, Investigators obtained and executed court-authorized search warrants at McCauley’s Buckhannon, West Virginia home and office. During the search, Investigators seized several electronic devices. A subsequent forensic examination of the devices uncovered digital images and video files of the boy engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Case Was Brought As Part Of Project Safe Childhood

     This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.