SCIOTO COUNTY, Ohio — A 61-year-old Muskingum County man is in the Scioto County Jail today, charged with the rape of a 12-year-old child.
Scioto County Sheriff David Thoroughman released a statement on the arrest late Thursday evening.
According to Sheriff Thoroughman, 61-year-old Michael Leland Nethers, of Philo, Ohio was charged following an investigation by detectives and the Scioto County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit.
On Monday, October 10, the sheriff’s office received information regarding an underage girl that had inappropriate pictures and videos on her cell phone. Thoroughman said that his office was then later notified that the girl was being seen at Adena Pike Medical Center in Pike County.
In an interview with the victim, she told detectives that in October of 2021 she received multiple nude photographs and videos from Nethers. It was then later discovered that he traveled to Scioto County to have “sexual conduct” with the minor.
Then, on Wednesday, detectives from the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office went to Muskingum County, where they asked for a search warrant for Michael Nethers’s home. He was also taken into custody at that time without incident, the sheriff said.
Michael Leland Nethers was subsequently charged with 1 count of rape, 4 counts of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, and pandering obscenity involving a minor. He is being held on a $150,000 bond.
