Authorities in Marshall County learned of the alleged abuse of a 6-year-old special needs student from an aide and not from someone directly involved – and mandated by law – to report the incident, according to Marshall County Prosecutor Joe Canestraro.
The aide, a hero to some, wishes to remain anonymous after informing officials that an educator allegedly grabbed the special needs student around the throat with two hands and squeezed for more than a moment. According to the documented complaint published by LEDE News a week ago, recorded evidence reviewed by authorities shows the educator, Kiersten Nicole Moses, interacting with the student near a door as the child became visibly agitated.
Canestraro confirmed that an examination conducted by a school nurse discovered red marks on the child’s neck. That is why Moses and two other school officials – administrators Jane Ann Duffy and Erin Cuffaro – are now facing charges related to the incident.
The prosecutor appeared on the “Novotney Now” radio program (100.1 FM) on The River Network on Friday and offered details on the charges.
Duffy, the principal of McNinch Primary School at the time of the incident, faces one misdemeanor count for failing to report child abuse within 24 hours of the incident.
“She has one misdemeanor charge of failure to file a mandatory report, and the possible sentence for that is up to 90 days in jail and/or up to a $5,000 fine,” Canestraro explained. “Basically, that charge stems from – even though she reported it to a higher up a supervisor – she’s still are a mandatory reporter. So, you still should take it upon yourself to file that report.”
Cuffaro, who is the director of Special Programs, has been charged with two misdemeanors, including failure to report child abuse and obstructing law enforcement, and eight felony counts of gross neglect of a child, creating substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.
“She has the failure to report (charge), the same as the principal, and she’s charged with obstructing an officer, another misdemeanor, and that’s basically because we believe she deleted the text message and told us she never sent it,” Canestraro said. “And then it was found on the principal’s phone, and that’s when she admitted to deleting the message. In West Virginia, you break the law when you lie to a state trooper.
“And there are the eight counts of child neglect creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury,” he explained. “The trooper filed those charges because the teacher (Moses) was allowed in the classroom with students after the incident until she was finally removed. The trooper felt that rose to the level for probable cause for child neglect.”
Moses is facing several criminal charges, including felony strangulation, two counts of felony assault/battery of a disabled child, and felony child abuse.
“She has four felony counts overall, including two counts of battery on a disabled child, which is a relatively new statute because of things that have happened in the state of West Virginia,” Canestraro said. “And that’s when any person in a position of trust to a disabled child who has a supervisory responsibility over the child, unlawfully and intentionally makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with the child. And that is a felony.
“She’s also charged with child abuse resulting in bodily injury, and she’s charged with one count of strangulation, which is another felony.”
Case Clarity
The chatter on social media has been noisy, intense, and often misguided, according to the county’s prosecutor.
Many local Facebook members, for example, insisted for days that charges should be filed against administrators in the school system’s Central Office. Canestraro disagrees at this time.
“That’s because the investigation did not find any evidence that any other individual was involved with this situation, and I can tell you Trooper (Sgt. S.M.) Durrah worked diligently,” Canestraro said. “He worked the investigation all the way to the top, to the superintendent of schools, and the evidence he found led to the charges against the three individuals who have been charged and no one else.
“Our office worked with (investigator) Sgt. (Steven Michael) Durrah to develop the charges based on what we believe we can prove, so that’s how we decided to move forward,” he reported. “They were all picked up and arrested. So, they’ve all been arraigned. They were taken straight to a magistrate, and they were arraigned, pleaded not guilty, and they all immediately posted bond. That’s the reason you didn’t see mugshots; they basically posted bond immediately.”
It is likely, though, that local media outlets will offer coverage from Marshall County this week.
“The next step are the preliminary hearings, and the first one is Tuesday in Magistrate Court at 10:30 a.m. for (Cuffaro) the director of special needs programs, and the (former) teacher (Mosses) is scheduled for Dec. 17 at 10:30 a.m. in Magistrate Court,” he detailed. “While I expect those cases to move on to Circuit Court after our Grand Jury meets in March of next year, the principal (Duffy) and the misdemeanor charge will stay on the Magistrate level, and her hearing is scheduled for January 14th at 10:15 a.m.
“The teacher did resign. It’s my understanding she’s no longer employed by Marshall County Schools,” he said. “The others were placed on leave by the county school system.”
Haines confirmed Friday the educators were placed on unpaid leave and based on the published agenda for the Marshall County Board of Education meeting for this Tuesday, December 16th, Cuffaro’s and Duffy’s unpaid suspension are set for ratification.
The regular meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at John Marshall HS Commons, and the call-in option is 1-304-553-7794, and the Conference ID is 655 948 211#. The online agenda includes the following:
Page 2 of 2 – “Other” – V. Personnel – A. Resignations – B. Employment/Transfers
And then …
C. Other
– Superintendents recommendation of unpaid suspension of administrative employee during period of investigation beginning Dec. 4, 2025
– Superintendents recommendation of unpaid suspension of administrative employee during period of investigation beginning Dec. 4, 2025
– Superintendents recommendation of administrative leave/relocation of duties of a service personnel during investigation.
Alleged Cover-Up
Who knew what? And when?
While Canestraro knows an anonymous aide reported the alleged abuse, it’s now his job to prove the charges levied against Cuffaro and Moses.
He’s confident in the evidence, too.
“This whole situation was made worse because of the behind-the-scenes things that went on,” Canestraro explained. “In the course of the investigation conducted by the State Police, the alleged abuse took place in mid-September but did not come out until October. That’s because, in the course of the investigation, it was found that the principal was told of this incident by one of the aides in the classroom.
“Then, it was found that the principal went to the special programs director,” he said. “And then, via text message, the principal was told there would be no verbal reprimand or anything. She was told to tell (Moses) to watch putting hands on the children. None of them reported it, which is required by law as a mandatory reporter within 24 hours of the incident.”
According to the collected evidence, Canestraro believes obstruction took place, too.
“In the investigation, it was found that the director of special programs had deleted that text message, but it was found on the principal’s phone,” Canestraro explained. “The investigation took about a month and a half and it was conducted by Sgt. Durrah, and it involved a lot reviewing video footage from the classroom from the beginning of the school year and forward to check to see if any other incidents had taken place.
“Special needs classrooms in West Virginia schools are recorded per state law,” he said. “The video helped with filing the charges against the teacher.”
There are several factors now controlling the timeline for the special needs abuse case, counting the grand jury indictments, respective hearings, and possible admissions and plea agreements, and Canestraro is confident incarceration will be included.
“I believe you’re probably talking jail time,” “I don’t know how you could not think that there could be jail time given what happened,” the prosecutor added. “Of course, you are innocent until proven guilty because that’s the great system that we have.”
