BUCKHANNON — Three Buckhannon men have been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl in separate incidents.

According to the criminal complaints filed in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office, Minter Wade Humphrey, 57; Matthew Charles Bean, 23; and Jamie Lee McCartney, 45, have all been arrested for sexual assault in the third degree, a felony.

Police began investigating in July 2020 at the request of Child Protective Services. According to the complaints, Cpl. E.E. Bostic with the W.Va. State Police learned the teenage victim said she was sexually assaulted by two individuals, Humphrey and Bean.

Bostic questioned Humphrey at his home, and Humphrey allegedly admitted in a recorded statement that he engaged in sexual acts with the victim, his niece.

Two days later, the officer spoke to Bean, who allegedly told Bostic that he and the victim were “in a vehicle in the Kroger parking lot in Buckhannon, where they had sexual intercourse and oral sex. But it wasn’t rape and she wanted to have sex with him at the time,” according to the complaint.

Bean also told Bostic that he had stopped talking to the victim “because she was dating a 45-year-old guy,” according to the complaint.

Later that day, Bostic obtained a statement from McCartney, who said “he had gotten into a relationship with [the victim], who was living with her parents at a house he was renting to her parents.”

McCartney told the officer the “relationship ended up going farther than he planned on” and allegedly admitted he had sex with the victim multiple times at his residence.

The incidents allegedly occurred in 2019-2020. All three men were arrested last week and are currently in jail on $50,000 bonds.

According to state code, sexual assault in the third degree is when a person “engages in sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion with another person who is mentally defective or mentally incapacitated,” or when a person “being 16 years old or more, engages in sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion with another person who is less than 16 years old and who is at least four years younger than the defendant.”

The penalty is 2-10 years in jail.