(POMEROY, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that a former Meigs County corrections officer has been found guilty of 24 charges, including sexual battery, kidnapping, gross sexual imposition and theft in office.
“This predator, masquerading as a jailer and a probation officer, should now find himself on the opposite side of iron bars,” Yost said.
Larry Tucker worked as a corrections officer at the Middleport Jail and as a Meigs County Common Pleas Court probation officer. Tucker sexually assaulted or attempted to sexually assault 12 different inmates and/or probationers between January 2011 and November 2017. The jury found him guilty on six counts of kidnapping, five counts of sexual battery, five counts of attempted sexual battery, four counts of gross sexual imposition, one count of soliciting, one count of attempting to compel prostitution and one count of theft in office.
The court revoked Tucker's bond and he was led away in cuffs. The court ordered a pre-sentencing investigation and Tucker will return at an undetermined date for sentencing. Tucker also faces further proceedings on sexually violent predator specifications contained in the indictment, which will be presented to the court. Tucker is facing more than 100 years. If Tucker is found guilty of the specifications, additional time in prison may be added to the court’s sentence.
The Special Prosecutions section and Bureau of Criminal Investigation of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office prosecuted and investigated the case, respectively.
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Steve Irwin: 614-728-5417
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