(POMEROY, Ohio)— Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that a former corrections officer and probation officer in Meigs County has been indicted by a grand jury on charges related to the alleged sexual assault or attempted sexual assault of nearly a dozen woman under his supervision.
A Meigs County grand jury indicted Larry D. Tucker, 55, of Pomeroy, on the following 28 charges:
- Kidnapping, six counts, felonies of the first degree
- Sexual battery, six counts, felonies of the third degree
- Gross sexual imposition (GSI), five counts, felonies of the fourth degree
- Attempted sexual battery, five counts, felonies of the fourth degree
- Attempted compelling prostitution, four counts, felonies of the fourth degree
- Soliciting, one count, misdemeanor of the third degree
- Theft in office, one count, felony of the fifth degree
The defendant was arrested over the weekend in Ashland County.
According to an investigation conducted by Attorney General DeWine’s Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Tucker is accused of sexually assaulting or attempting to sexually assault 11 different inmates and/or probationers while working as a corrections officer at the Middleport Jail and as a Meigs County Common Pleas Court probation officer.
The incidents are alleged to have occurred between January 2011 and November 2017.
Each sexual battery charge and kidnapping charge carries a sexual violent predator specification. The six kidnapping charges also carry specifications alleging that the crimes were committed with sexual motivation.
Evidence of alleged theft in office was also uncovered over the course of the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by attorneys with Attorney General DeWine’s Special Prosecutions Section.