WILLIAMSON - A man, whose age and address have eluded media attempts to better identify him, was arraigned Tuesday and lodged in Southwestern Regional Jail for alleged sexual offenses for which he was indicted last year.

A September 2007 indictment and an arraignment order identify the defendant only as Thomas A. Meade, who was taken into custody Tuesday after turning himself in to Circuit Court.

Meade appeared before Chief Judge Michael Thornsbury in Mingo County Circuit Court and entered a plea of not guilty to nine counts of child abuse resulting in injury.

He was represented by Attorney Jerry Lyall. Assistant Prosecutor Glen Rutledge appeared for the state.

Court records had no birthdate or address for Meade and these would have been available at the regional jail except for an act of nature - Tuesday evening’s major thunderstorm which struck power lines of the jail near Holden and put the computer system and other electrical systems out of commission. Power still had not been restored by Wednesday afternoon.,

Thornsbury scheduled Meade’s trial for Aug. 11 and set bond at $125,000 (with $10,000 full cash required at time of posting). The court then ordered that Meade be remanded to custody of Southwestern Regional Jail until such bond is posted.

Various conditions were imposed on the bond such as electronic home confinement, weekly random drug testing, no association with any abuser of controlled substance, no contact with the victim and no contact with any person under the age of 18 years.

The indictment of September 2007 contains charges that Meade knowingly, intentionally and feloniously abused each of three different victims, for whom he was listed as custodian, resulting in injury. The offenses allegedly occurred between Oct. 27, 2005 and Oct. 27, 2006 in Mingo County and involved one male and two female minor children.