Child sex case bound over

0

The attorney for convicted child sex offender James H. McCartney asked that a case against his client be bound over to a Highland County grand jury during what was to be a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Hillsboro Municipal Court.

Attorney J.D. Wagoner told Judge David McKenna in the brief two-minute court proceeding that McCartney was waiving his right to a preliminary hearing.

“We were scheduled to have a hearing today to determine if there was enough evidence to send these charges to the grand jury,” McKenna told McCartney, who sat in the courtroom in a red jumpsuit and handcuffed to a walker.

The judge told the courtroom that since McCartney had signed a waiver, there would be no hearing and the case would be referred to a grand jury.

“Your bond remains at $250,000 and will remain at that point until Judge Coss or the grand jury makes a decision otherwise,” McKenna said.

McCartney, 62, of the Rocky Fork Lake area, was arrested March 1 on a first-degree felony charge of trafficking in persons after allegations surfaced that he solicited a woman to procure a young girl for sex.

A complaint and arrest warrant from Hillsboro Municipal Court that was filed March 1 alleges that between Feb. 25-26, McCartney “did knowingly attempt to recruit, lure, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, or maintain another person,” when he knew that the other person “will be subjected to involuntary servitude or be compelled to engage in sexual activity for hire.”

The complaint further alleges that McCartney’s motivation was to obtain a young girl and to have her “engage in a performance that is obscene, sexually oriented, or nudity oriented, or be a model or participant in the production of material that is obscene, sexually oriented or nudity oriented.”

An affidavit stated that a woman and her brother came to the Highland County Sheriff’s Office on the evening of Feb. 25 with information regarding McCartney’s alleged solicitation to her via Facebook.

The Facebook messages she provided to a deputy alleges that McCartney wanted her to obtain a young girl for sexual activity and graphically detailed what he intended to do to her.

McCartney has a prior conviction in Clinton County Common Pleas Court for pandering obscenity and pandering obscenity with a minor, the affidavit stated, adding that he also was convicted on a charge of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor in the state of California.

California’s penal code statute PC 288(a) is defined as a child molestation statute that is leveled against those that commit “any lewd or lascivious act” with a minor child under 14 years of age, according to online records.

That conviction placed him on the Sex Offender Registry as a lifetime registrant, and he is currently listed as a Pre-AWA (Adam Walsh Act) sexual predator in Ohio.

Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.

James McCartney is shown Tuesday in Hillsboro Municipal Court next to Highland County sheriff’s deputy Nick Thompson.
https://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/03/web1_McCartney-hearing.jpgJames McCartney is shown Tuesday in Hillsboro Municipal Court next to Highland County sheriff’s deputy Nick Thompson. Tim Colliver | The Times-Gazette
McCartney remains jailed on $250,000 bond

By Tim Colliver

[email protected]

No posts to display