BUCKHANNON — On Tuesday, Asad Derya Khan admitted on his local web show, The Pros and Khans, that he was creating content for The Buckhannon Rag. Additionally, Mountaineer Journal has obtained solid documentation disclosing that Dr. Ali Khan, a local podcast host of Coffee Anyone with Dr. Khan, also supplied material for The Buckhannon Rag.
The Buckhannon Rag is a local website that was anonymously engaging in criminal harassment and civil defamation against local conservative and moderate candidates, along with journalists, and private citizens. All of the content published on the website was posted anonymously.
The contributor(s) to the website were maliciously posting photos of Buckhannon residents’ houses, publishing their residential addresses, and phone numbers. The Buckhannon Rag contributor(s) were also stalking the residences of candidates, journalists, and private citizens, writing about their behavior on The Buckhannon Rag. One can conclude, they engaged in this behavior to instill fear and intimidate those they targeted on their website.
Furthermore, the writer(s) of The Buckhannon Rag published articles targeting people’s deceased loved ones. The contributor(s) edited photos from people’s Facebook profiles, placing one on a pornographic image. Shelia Sines’ family portrait was also photoshopped, defacing Sines’ 1-year-old grandson, taken at his first birthday party. They took multiple photos of their targets’ houses, drawing circles to indicate where one residence’s home security cameras were located. Then, they used innuendo, insinuating that they hacked one of their target’s home security cameras. The Buckhannon Rag also published multiple posts maliciously tracking the movements and locations of their targets, posting about following one individual through two nearby counties, obsessively providing details about their excursion.
Mountaineer Journal can confirm the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the West Virginia Secretary of State, and the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department were involved in a joint investigation to find the operators of the website, with multiple criminal misdemeanor offenses being pursued against those involved.
Documentation obtained by Mountaineer Journal shows Asad Khan provided information to Michael Morehead for The Buckhannon Rag.
Michael Morehead is the publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Mountaineer News and owner of Mountaineer News Media, LLC. Additionally, Morehead is the owner of Appalachian Certified Home Inspections, LLC. He was also a regular guest on Coffee Anyone with Dr. Ali Khan and Pros and Khans with Asad Khan.
“Michael Morehead had created a website titled, The Buckhannon Rag,” Asad Derya Khan explained on his web show, Pros and Khans. “When I first inspected the website, I was honestly pleased.”
Khan admitted on his web show that he created defamatory videos that were posted on The Buckhannon Rag’s Facebook page, falsely accusing Buckhannon City Council Candidate Shelia Sines of using cocaine.
“Whenever Michael approached me and said, ‘Can you make some anti-political ads?’ for The Buckhannon Rag,” Khan continued, “I agreed. So, all the ads that were done on Facebook were done by myself. I did make them.”
Khan expressed that he shared a joint account with Michael Morehead that was used to share The Buckhannon Rag’s content and post to The Buckhannon Rag’s Facebook page. He also stated that he produced photoshopped images used on The Buckhannon Rag for Morehead.
“In this, we also had a joint account. The joint account is what ran the Facebook page. He had access to it. I had access to it. I used it to put up the videos, and also some articles. He also asked me for a lot of pictures; so, that’s where a lot of the pictures that were made, were made. It was a poor judge of my moral character. I shouldn’t have done it.”
Khan said that he still supports The Buckhannon Rag’s early posts, which contained content falsely accusing Shelia Sines of drug usage and falsely accusing Caiden Cowger (me) of operating without a business license. Additionally, he ended his sentence with “I had too,” before correcting himself with “I was okay with.”
“Now, I’m still going to say that what happened at the beginning with Shelia [Sines] and Caiden [Cowger], I’m not going to lie, because of the stuff that has happened in the past, that was something that I had to… I was okay with,” Khan stated.
During Khan’s web show, Morehead made a response denying complete involvement with The Buckhannon Rag.
“The Rag was you, Derya,” Morehead continued, “Subpoenas will reveal that. Especially since you so easily place blame for your ‘fun stuff’ on me. You hijacked the news to announce your departure after I found out it was you. Recollecting? Thank you for showing your true colors. The Khans are toxic. Believe them when they show you or try to manipulate you. And Rob Gifford, let’s talk. Don’t let the Khans manipulate you like they did me sure, Derya, your dad is innocent in all your fun…“
Asad Khan’s admission of his involvement in creating content for The Buckhannon Rag, providing it to Morehead, makes Khan an accomplice.
The Websites
Mountaineer News (Mountaineer.news) is a “news” website publicly affiliated with Morehead and Khan. The website is officially owned by Mountaineer News Media, LLC. Mountaineer.news was registered through 1&1 IONOS.
Sines4WV.com was a website created to defame Shelia Sines, portraying a mock of Sines’ official campaign website (SinesForWV.com). The site contained material that falsely accused Sines of using and selling cocaine. The website also included a donation page, which may have been fraudulently raising funds using Sines’ name, or potentially collecting the credit card information of donors who contribute through their site. While details related to potential credit card theft through the fraudulent website are currently unconfirmed, the site is still being investigated. This website was also operated anonymously. Sines4WV.com was registered through 1&1 IONOS.
The Buckhannon Rag (BuckhannonRag.com) is a website that engaged in criminal harassment and civil defamation against approximately 19 people, 13 of whom are private citizens. The website posted residential addresses, personal phone numbers, and private email addresses of those targeted. Their content attacked candidates, journalists, and private citizens. They also targeted the families of candidates, journalists, and private citizens. BuckhannonRag.com was registered through 1&1 IONOS.
Buccaneer Journal (BuccaneerJournal.com) is a website affiliated with The Buckhannon Rag that posted defamatory remarks about a private citizen. BuccaneerJournal.com was registered through 1&1 IONOS.
Your Buckhannon (YourBuckhannon.com) is a local “news” website that was operated by Chief Editor Spike Nesmith, the switchboard operator and co-host of Coffee Anyone with Dr. Ali Khan. Nesmith is also a radio personality on Sky 106.5 FM’s The Breakfast Show. YourBuckhannon.com is owned by Morehead’s Mountaineer News Media, LLC, and was registered through 1&1 IONOS.
1&1 IONOS
Mountaineer News, The Buckhannon Rag, Your Buckhannon, Sines4WV, and Buccaneer Journal were all registered through 1&1 IONOS, which is a domain registrar based in Wayne, PA. This registration would indicate presumably that the owner of Mountaineer.news also registered the domain names BuckhannonRag.com and Sines4WV.com.
On March 27, 2020, Morehead publicly claimed ownership as the publisher of Mountaineer News (Mountaineer.news).
Morehead and Matthew Kerner on Pros and Khans with Asad Khan
On April 27, 2020, Asad Derya Khan brought Morehead and Matthew Kerner on his Pros and Khans web show. During this streamed event, multiple references were made to The Buckhannon Rag, directly and indirectly. Kerner pointed out that an offensive term for Muslims is “‘rag head,’” causing some listeners to believe that this was the ironic inspiration for naming “The Buckhannon Rag.”
Throughout this web show, Khan, Morehead, and Kerner gave a variety of clues relating to the operations and content of The Buckhannon Rag, also mentioning that they are going to acquire a “Ghostbusters van.” The Buckhannon Rag has used the Ghostbuster’s logo and the tagline “Buckhannon Bigot Busters.”
Website Design Connection
Mountaineer News and The Buckhannon Rag were both hosted on the WIX platform. When a user creates a new website on WIX and searches for “News Blogger” design templates, the designs of Mountaineer News and The Buckhannon Rag conveniently appeared exactly beside one another, as the first and second website design options.
Conclusion
Asad Derya Khan and Dr. Ali Khan’s total involvement is still being investigated to determine the totality of their contributions to The Buckhannon Rag. Asad Khan’s provision of images, defamatory videos, and sharing of the defamatory articles would make Khan a direct accomplice in The Buckhannon Rag’s operations and accountable for civil liability. Dr. Khan’s contributions would also make him an accomplice, placing him at risk for civil liability. Documentation provided to Mountaineer Journal alleges that Morehead served as the main operator of the website, which if accurate, would result in multiple criminal charges and civil liability.
Mountaineer Journal has also obtained copies of all articles posted on The Buckhannon Rag. We will be providing our readers with any developing information we receive pertaining to this story.
If you have additional information related to The Buckhannon Rag or any information regarding the other sites involved in this investigation, please submit a tip by emailing tips@mountaineerjournal.com.