Oceana man sentenced to prison

OCEANA, WV (LOOTPRESS) – James R. Lewis, JR., 53 of Oceana, WV, was sentenced to one to five years for two counts of failure to register as a sex offender, to be served consecutively, for a total of two to ten years in prison on April 25, 2024.

On January 29th, 2024, Trooper P.M. Browning was conducting stationary patrol in Clear Fork,
WV, when a woman reported that she had to swerve left of center to avoid hitting a male walking northbound on the highway. Trooper Browning located the pedestrian, later identified as James R. Lewis Jr. During the investigation, it was discovered that Lewis had violated sex offender registration requirements by failing to report the activation of a cell phone screen name.

Gregory Bishop, the Wyoming County Prosecutor, stated, “Proactive police work by the State Police, coupled with aggressive prosecution of this repeat offender and a fair and just court, resulted in a sentence with which we are very pleased.”

Assistant Prosecutor Derek Laxton of Wyoming County served as lead prosecutor in the case.
Trooper P.M. Browning of the WV State Police investigated the crime.

Bishop wished to thank the hard and thorough work of Assistant Prosecutor, Derek Laxton, and
the entire prosecutor staff along with Trooper P.M. Browning from the WV State Police.