Fitzpatrick accused of extortion, threatening to release sex video

Josh Fitzpatrick, a meteorologist at WSAZ for a decade and who and last employed at WVIR-TV in March, has been arrested on sextortion charges.

According to a Facebook post from the Albemarle County Police Department, on Feb. 28, 2025, the police began a sexual extortion investigation after a victim reported an assault, who reported that after a consensual sexual encounter, they were extorted and threatened with the release of a video taken unknowingly and without their consent.

On April 9, the police obtained warrants for Fitzpatrick, who was residing in Charlottesville, Virginia, for felony sexual extortion and unlawful creation of image of another.

According to the police, Fitzpatrick had relocated to Ohio shortly after the investigation began. 

On Tuesday, Fitzpatrick was arrested in his hometown of Gallipolis as a fugitive from justice and is currently being held in Ohio awaiting extradition to Virginia.

“The investigation has led detectives to believe that there may be additional victims,” the Albemarle County Police Department wrote in the Facebook post. “ACPD would like to encourage anyone who may have had an encounter with Fitzpatrick to contact Detective M. Schneider with the Albemarle County Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division at 434-296-5807.”

WVIR-TV wrote a story covering Fitzpatrick’s arrest and stated that he “left his position with 29News in early March.”

According to an Adweek article from October 2017, Fitzpatrick left WSAZ after working at the station since 2007 and had a new job at WVIR-TV.

“I’m excited to begin a new chapter in my career and life. I’m not going very far from home. Just to the other side of the mountains,” Adweek said in the article, quoting Fitzpatrick’s Facebook post.

In 2005, Fitzpatrick won favorite meteorologist in the Tri-State market.