NEW CUMBERLAND-A Newell father and son stand accused of conspiring together to sexually assault a 9-year-old neighbor boy in June.

Kevin W. Halstead, 38, of Jefferson Street, Newell, was indicted by the Hancock County grand jury on Wednesday on five felony counts of first-degree sexual assault in connection with the incident.

His father, Karl Halstead, 70, of Jefferson Street, Newell, was indicted on three felony counts of aiding and abetting first-degree sexual assault and one count of conspiracy. He is accused of holding the boy down while his son allegedly sodomized him and performed oral sex on him, according to the indictment.

Kevin Halstead is being held on a $900,000 bond in the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville. An arrest warrant pursuant to the indictment was issued for Karl Halstead, but he remains at-large, Hancock County Prosecutor Jim Davis said.

The indictments allege that, on June 30, Kevin and Karl Halstead held the boy against his will while he was sexually assaulted three times.

The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department began investigating Kevin Halstead on July 8, when it received a 911 call from the boy’s mother.

The boy told officers that he and two friends were riding their bicycles in the neighborhood when they were approached by Kevin Halstead about stacking some tires in his yard, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hancock County Magistrate Court on July 23.

Halstead told the boys he would give them $5, but when it came time to pay, he reportedly offered them popsicles as an inducement to come into the house, the complaint said.

The boy, who was interviewed at Comfort House Child Advocacy Center in Weirton on July 9, said Halstead grabbed him and another boy and pulled them into the house. The other boy, who is 6 years old, bit the man and was punched in the face before escaping, according to the complaint.

The younger boy told authorities that the 9-year-old was taken into another part of the house and could be heard yelling for help, the complaint said.

The Review does not use the names of alleged victims of sexual assault.

Kevin Halstead was picked up in Mercer County, Pa., and brought back to Hancock County on Aug. 29. The grand jury also indicted him on one felony count each of kidnapping, abduction with the intent to defile, child abuse creating a risk of serious bodily injury, and conspiracy.

Two of the five sexual assault counts stem from a separate incident that allegedly occurred between July 1 and July 14, according to the indictment.

Also Wednesday, the grand jury indicted four people in connection with the alleged operation of a methamphetamine laboratory in New Cumberland in May.

Three of the four people were arrested in May, but their cases were not heard by the grand jury until now because it meets only three times a year-January, April and September.

Indicted were:

* Joel T. Shafer, 23, of New Cumberland, on charges of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and possession of precursor to manufacture of methamphetamine.

* Jay T. Kinzie, 23, of New Cumberland, on charges of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, possession of precursor to manufacture of methamphetamine, and exposure of children to methamphetamine manufacturing.

* Nevada M. Kinzie, 23, of New Cumberland, on charges of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, possession of precursor to manufacture of methamphetamine, and exposure of children to methamphetamine manufacturing.

* Elizabeth Yano, 26, of Chester, on charges of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and possession of precursor to manufacture of methamphetamine.

The indictments are the result of a months-long investigation of the Kinzies, Shafer and two of their associates-Gregory A. Virden Jr., 23, of Chester, and David J. Duffy, 22, of New Cumberland.

The latter two, also arrested in May, have since entered pleas to bills of information, Davis said.

Virden was pulled over on May 16 by a New Cumberland police officer who spotted him driving northbound on North Chester Street (state Route 2) without a seatbelt.

Information obtained during the traffic stop led police to two New Cumberland apartments and the arrests of Jay Kinzie, Duffy and Shafer.

During the search of 907 1/2 N. Chestnut St., Apt. 3, where Kinzie lived with Nevada and their 5-year-old daughter, officers found a suspected active meth lab in the refrigerator freezer, as well as equipment, meth on a plate, a meth recipe and two itemized notes of supplies and chemicals needed, according to a complaint filed in Magistrate Court by sheriff’s Detective John Robinson of the Hancock-Brooke-Weirton Drug Task Force.

The complaint said the girl’s bedroom and the nightstand containing the suspected precursor materials were less than a foot apart. Kinzie allegedly said he was cooking meth in the room next to his daughter’s bedroom and was venting the toxic fumes out the window, according to the complaint.

The girl was not home at the time of the search, but the “relative danger of methamphetamine production placed the child living in the home at an extreme risk,” the complaint said.

Also Wednesday, the grand jury indicted Brent Burton, 36, of Chester, on one count of first-degree robbery in connection with the Jan. 16 armed robbery of Phillies Quick Stop in Newell.

Burton is accused of threatening the convenience store clerk with a gun and stealing money from the register.

The Jan. 16 robbery was the second armed robbery of the store in two months. The first, which occurred on Nov. 26, 2013, remains unsolved.

The other indictments were:

* Eric J. Ulbrich, 40, of Chester: Operating a clandestine drug lab.

* Leon B. Forrester, 21, of Chester: House burglary.

* Justin R. Bartley, 20, of New Cumberland: Grand larceny, conspiracy, and transferring stolen property.

* Jeremiah Jobe, 23, of New Cumberland: Grand larceny.

* Paul E. Beaver, 45, of Grant Street, Newell: Failure to register as a sex offender.

* David D. Campbell Jr., 52, of Chester: Aggravated robbery, domestic battery (third and subsequent offense), and grand larceny.

* Christopher W. Herron, 35, of Chester: Fraudulent schemes.

* David J. Patterson, 23, of Weirton: Criminal use of destructive device, and conspiracy.

* Kenneth R. Bartley III, 41, of Weirton: Grand larceny, conspiracy, transferring stolen property, and entry of a building other than a dwelling.

* Robert L. Keppel, 41, of Oakdale, Pa.: House burglary.

* Erica D. Cooper, 32, of Steubenville: Grand larceny.

* Wayne L. Calvin, 38, of Weirton: Entry of a building other than a dwelling, and attempt to commit a crime.

* Zachary George, 28, of Weirton: Forgery and uttering.

* Melissa Stander, 40, of Clarksburg, W.Va.: Fraudulent schemes, and gross child neglect resulting in substantial risk of injury.

* Timothy Stander, 39, of Mount Vernon, Ohio: Gross child neglect resulting in substantial risk of injury.

* Michael E. Barnhart, 43, of Ridgeway Street, Weirton: Failure to register as a sex offender.

* James M. Davis, 51, of West Street, Weirton: Failure to register as a sex offender.

* Charles J. Toland, 49, of Weirton: Third-degree sexual assault.

* Bradley Birkhimer, 29, of Weirton: House burglary.

* Christopher M. Bartoli, 30, of Weirton: Third-degree sexual assault.