BUCKHANNON — Clifford “CJ” Rylands, a former Buckhannon City Councilman and prominent restaurant owner, controversially served as a character witness for former Mayor David McCauley. Rylands’ restaurant, CJ Maggies, has two locations in downtown Buckhannon and downtown Elkins.
According to Charles Young with The Record Delta, Rylands testified in an attempt by McCauley’s defense to convince the court to allow McCauley to live at his daughter’s Bridgeport home while the case against him proceeds. In this, Rylands and McCauley’s defense were hoping to get McCauley released on bail or home confinement.
In the past, Rylands himself had his own problems with the law. In 1984, Rylands pled guilty after he was caught distributing thousands of pounds of Schedule I controlled substances in an illegal multistate drug dealing operation. Rylands cooperated with federal agents and provided the location of the “stash house” outside of Alachua, FL.
As announced by U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld, McCauley was indicted by a federal grand jury on child pornography charges.
McCauley is charged with two counts of production and one count of possession of child pornography. The indictment alleges that McCauley enticed a 17-year-old boy to engage in sexually explicit conduct for photo and video production. The indictment further charges McCauley with knowingly possessing illegal images on his computer.
“As alleged, David McCauley produced child pornography involving a juvenile boy on multiple occasions,” said U.S. Attorney Ihlenfeld. “Those who prey upon and exploit our youth will be held accountable, no matter their status in the community.”
McCauley faces at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison for each of the production charges and up to 10 years on the possession charge. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
