BUCYRUS— Crawford County Municipal Court Judge Shane Leuthold presided over the initial court appearance of Chad Myers, 37, of Galion.
Myers appeared via video from the Crawford County Jail. Myers was originally charged with two counts of rape, both felonies of the first degree. He was free on a $500,000 cash bond when prosecutors allege he tried to contact his juvenile victim. He was taken into custody, and Friday morning, two additional charges of pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor were levied against Myers. Both are second-degree felonies, each punishable with up to 8 years in prison. According to allegations, there were photos of the victim engaged in sexual activity in Myer’s possession.
Judge Leuthold told the court that victim’s advocate Jim Scott advised him that while Myers had contacted the police department in Crestline to obtain property the victim allegedly has, he never made contact with the victim.
In regards to the new charges, Leuthold noted that these charges stemmed from allegations from 2013. The victim is the same, but the acts are different, resulting in the two new charges. Leuthold allowed Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Hoovler and court-appointed attorney Tom Nicholson to make arguments for bond.
Hoovler told the court that this is an ongoing investigation:
“We have a deputy right now going through enormous amounts of videos. We are trying to ascertain the identity, ages of the victims, the days, and the nature of the acts. It’s a large amount of material.” Hoovler said.
Hoovler said his main concern is that immediately after he posted a $500,000 cash bond, the first thing he thought about was obtaining a radio from the victim.
“In one way or another, Mr. Myers is trying to get that radio from the victim. We believe Mr. Myers does not understand the severity of the situation and the complete necessity NOT to contact the victim.” Hoovler said.
Hoovler recommended that the cash bond be continued but that he be placed on home monitoring and house arrest as special conditions of the bond.
Court-appointed attorney Tom Nicholson told the court that there was too much information to present at the appearance:
“Mr. Meyer got home and discovered a great deal of property missing. I would point out that a person who can post a half a million dollar bond might be the kind of person who has a lot of property. He tells me he goes and discovers that gold and diamonds were missing.
Jewelry and other things were missing. He called the police to get them back. He had no intention to contact the victim. The only other thing I’d say is not guilty,“ Nicholson said.
Judge Leuthold was quick to point a few things to Nicholson:
“Mr. Nicholson, I do not have the jurisdiction to take a plea from you on behalf of your client. This is an initial appearance on these new charges filed and a bond revocation.
You are the court-appointed attorney, yet you tell me that your client has lots of money and property. I am going to have to remove you from the appointed list because Mr. Myers does not qualify for a court-appointed attorney,” Leuthold said.
Leuthold then asked Myers about his employment and assets. Myers told the court he earned $26.00 per hour and answered other inquires. Leuthold removed Nicholson’s status as court-appointed and told Myers he must retain Nicholson. He also told Myers that if he loses his job or circumstances changed, the court would revisit his eligibility for Court-appointed counsel.
Leuthold ordered Myer’s bond to be continued but placed him on house arrest with real-time GPS monitoring.
“This is modern technology that will tell us exactly where he is at all times and give him the most direct routes to where he is permitted to go, including work if he still has a job. We will know immediately if he goes anywhere near the victim’s home. We will work those details out with the GPS service,” Leuthold said.