ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 173
(By Senators Wooton, Snyder, Burnette, Fanning, Hunter, Kessler,
Minard, Mitchell, Oliverio, Redd, Ross, Rowe and Facemyer)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 16, 2001.]
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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 who, with the intent to
harass or abuse another person, uses a computer to:
(1) Make a contact without disclosing his or her identity; or
(2) Make contact repeatedly with a person after being
requested by the person to desist from contacting them; or
(3) Threaten to commit a crime against any person or property.
(b) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly permit a
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 a provision of this section is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not more than five hundred dollars or confined in a county or
regional jail not more than six months, or both. For a second or
subsequent offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand
dollars or confined in a county or regional jail for not more than
one year, or both.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the criminal
offense of harassing by means of a computer.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.)