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MORGANTOWN - According to a press release issued Tuesday morning by Rosnick Law, the firm is representing a West Virginia University student charged with the destruction of a Flock Safety camera.
A case number included with the release indicates that Illia Petrov, 20, pleaded not guilty in Monongalia County Magistrate Court to one felony charge of damage, destruction, or theft of equipment used by emergency responders; and one felony charge of conspiracy to commit an offense against the state.
The incident is alleged to have taken place June 26.
That is the same incident date and the same charges listed on court records for Wesley Jackson, the 20-year-old Gerrardstown, West Virginia, man arrested by the Monongalia County Sheriff's Department on July 16 for damaging the Flock cameras located in front of Suburban Plaza on Chestnut Ridge Road.
Jackson entered a not guilty plea on both charges the same day.
A press release issued at the time of Jackson's arrest indicated additional arrests were expected in the case.
As for Petrov, Rosnick Law said its client has been accused, but is presumed innocent, noting, "The State must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt in a courtroom, not in a headline."
The release goes on to state, "This case also lands in the middle of a national debate. Americans across the political spectrum are asking whether blanket automated surveillance of ordinary people - where they worship, seek medical care, visit family, or attend political gatherings - can be squared with the Fourth Amendment. Those questions belong to the courts and the legislature. They deserve a serious answer."
According to Monongalia County Magistrate Court, Jackson has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Friday, and Petrov has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 24.
The Monongalia County Sheriff's Department has said it intends to fully investigate all damage to the county's Flock Safety cameras, and, if warranted, pursue criminal charges against those believed responsible to the fullest extent of the law.
"The thing is that's a piece of county-owned property. So are our vehicles and any of our equipment. This just happens to be a Flock camera," MCSD Law Enforcement Administrator Mark Ralston told the press during a July information session on the department's use of automated license plate reader cameras. "We will pursue it the same way we would with any of our property, period."