Senate Bill No. 528
(By Senators Kessler, Edgell, McKenzie, Bowman, Hunter, Mitchell
and Ball)
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[Introduced February 17, 2000; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article three-c, chapter sixty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
fourteen-a, relating to the crime of harassing another by
means of a computer.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article three-c, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
fourteen-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3C. WEST VIRGINIA COMPUTER CRIME AND ABUSE ACT.
§61-3C-14a. Obscene, anonymous, harassing and threatening
communications by computer; penalty.
(a) It is unlawful for any person with intent to harass or
abuse another by means of a computer to:
(1) Make any comment, request, suggestion or proposal which is
obscene; or
(2) Make a contact without disclosing his or her identity and
with intent to harass any person; or
(3) Make contact repeatedly with intent to harass any person;
or
(4) Threaten to commit a crime against any person or property.
(b) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly permit any
computer under his or her control to be used for any purpose
prohibited by this section.
(c) Any offense committed under this section may be determined
to have occurred at the place at which the contact originated or
the place at which the contact was intended to be received.
(d) Any person who violates any provision of this section is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned in a county
or regional jail not more than six months, or both fined and imprisoned. For a second offense, the person is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more
than three thousand dollars or imprisoned in a county or regional
jail for not more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned; for
a third or subsequent offense the person is guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than ten thousand
dollars, or imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not
less than one nor more than five years, or both fined and
imprisoned.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the criminal
offense of harassing another by means of a computer.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.