{"id":205372,"date":"2026-04-29T21:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T02:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=205372"},"modified":"2026-04-29T21:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T02:06:17","slug":"oc-man-changes-plea-in-child-sex-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/04\/29\/oc-man-changes-plea-in-child-sex-case\/","title":{"rendered":"OC man changes plea in child sex case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Ohio City man facing a number of sex charges has changed his plea and now awaits sentencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a hearing held in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday, Seth Marbaugh, 34, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty to sexual battery, a felony of the third degree. Judge Martin D. Burchfield ordered a presentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for 9 a.m. June 17.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Prior to the plea change, Marbaugh was charged with four counts of rape, all first degree felonies; three counts of sexual battery, third degree felonies, and three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, third degree felonies. He was also facing a charge of tampering with evidence, and was scheduled to stand trial May 18-20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court records show the alleged crimes occurred between May of 2023 and October of 2024, and the alleged victim was between 13-16 years of age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three other plea changes occurred on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Green, 50, of Van Wert, changed his plea to guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth degree felony. Judge Burchfield ordered a pre-sentence investigation and set sentencing for 9 a.m. June 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Johnson, 38, of Van Wert, changed his plea to guilty to an amended charge of attempted tampering with evidence, a fourth degree felony. He then requested and was granted intervention in lieu of conviction and his case was stayed pending completion of the treatment program. He was also ordered to pay court costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Derek Eland, 33, of Van Wert, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty to domestic violence, a felony of the fourth degree, and endangering children, a first degree misdemeanor. Judge Burchfield ordered a pre-sentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for 9 a.m. June 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In separate and unrelated cases, two defendants were in court for alleged bond violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Tracy, 62, of Spencerville, admitted to violating his bond by failing to report to probation and court and failing to report a change of address. Bond\u00a0was set at $25,000 cash or surety. A pre-trial conference will be scheduled at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storm McGinnis, 35, of Van Wert, denied violating his bond and intervention in lieu by allegedly using illegal drugs and failing drug screens. A further hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. May 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two defendants were sentenced for their crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After failing intervention in lieu of conviction, Ernie Ginter, 24, of Van Wert, was sentenced to 13 months in prison for grand theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth degree felony. He was given credit for 113 days already served and was ordered to pay court costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, David Lowe, 55, of Sturgis, Michigan, was sentenced to 60 months in prison (five years) for each of three counts of gross sexual imposition. The sentences will run concurrently and Lowe was given credit for 56 days already served. He was ordered to pay court costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor An Ohio City man facing a number of sex charges has changed his plea and now awaits sentencing. During a hearing held in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday, Seth Marbaugh, 34, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty to sexual battery, a felony of the third degree. Judge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 05:52:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205373,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205372\/revisions\/205373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}