Keyser man trapped in vehicle for nearly 3 hours

Teresa McMinn, Cumberland Times-News, Md.
·2 min read

Feb. 9—RAWLINGS — Stephen C. Sluss, 65, of Keyser, West Virginia, was trapped in wreckage for nearly three hours before he was flown to the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore early Tuesday.

Sluss' vehicle had traveled underneath a tractor-trailer on U.S. Route 220, according to Maryland State Police.

Police said the accident occurred about 9:30 p.m. Monday just south of Collins Drive in Rawlings as the truck driver — Joseph Phareau, 46, of Jacksonville, Florida — was backing the vehicle into a lot, and Sluss' vehicle collided with it.

Sluss was removed from the wreckage about 12:25 a.m. Tuesday after the trailer was lifted off his 2016 Chevrolet Equinox by first responders utilizing shore lifting devices, according to reports from the scene.

Phareau was not injured, police said.

Organizations that responded to the scene included Allegany County Department of Emergency Services, MSP Trooper 5 helicopter paramedics, the Go Team from the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and firefighters from the Rawlings, Bedford Road, Cresaptown, LaVale and Fountain volunteer fire departments.

The accident remains under investigation by state police.

On Thursday, a University of Maryland Medical Center spokeswoman said Sluss was in fair condition.

According to an August 2018 Cumberland Times-News report, Sluss, who served on the Mineral County Commission from 1987-92 and in the House of Delegates from 1983-84, admitted in April 2017 that he received videos via the internet of prepubescent minors engaged in sex acts.

Investigators at the time said Sluss was using a web-based chatting service to access and download child pornography, and he further admitted to possessing over 600 images and videos of minors engaged in sex acts — some that involved sadistic conduct.

He was sentenced to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography.

Sluss was ordered to serve 15 years of federal supervised release after completion of his prison term, and required to register as a sex offender.

According to the West Virginia State Police Sex Offender Registry on Thursday, Sluss served approximately three years and four months in a correctional facility and was given 15 years of supervised probation.