A lawsuit making its way through court right now claims the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources could have and should have stopped a sex offender from sexually assaulting and abusing young girls he was living with.
John Lawson was found guilty of 136 sex crimes in December 2022. He is set to be sentenced in June by a judge in Jackson County. Eyewitness News said Child Protective Services was called to the home twice, years before Lawson was eventually arrested. An attorney for one of the victims said the agency’s policy should have been enough to get the girls out of the home because Lawson was a registered sex offender.