Ohio Police Chief Arrested on 70 Sexual Abuse Counts

An Ohio police chief is facing a long list of sex-related charges tied to accusations from before he took the job. Bethel Police Chief Chad Essert, 44, was arrested in Seminole, Florida, on Tuesday after a Clermont County grand jury indicted him on 70 felony counts, authorities said. Prosecutors said the charges—56 counts of sexual battery and 14 counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor—stem from allegations dating to between 2005 and 2010, WPEC reports, when Essert was a Young Marines instructor and a teacher at Scarlet Oaks school in Sharonville. Prosecutors said the victim was a student at the time.

The Ohio attorney general's office database indicates that Essert was working for other police departments during that period, per WLWT. Each count is a third-degree felony; if convicted on all of them, Essert could face up to 280 years in prison. He was already on leave from the Bethel department over an unrelated investigation. Essert is being held in Florida while awaiting extradition to Ohio.