March 29, 2024

Jail officer arrested, charged with count of alleged sexual battery

POMEROY, Ohio – A man that has served in two different positions involving corrections and probation has been arrested and charged with sexual battery.

Larry Tucker was arrested November 15, 2017 and charged with one count of sexual battery, a felony of the third degree. Tucker has been employed as the Meigs County Common Pleas Court Probation Officer and as a corrections officer at the Middleport Jail. It was in the capacity of his position at the Middleport Jail that the alleged sexual battery took place.

According to the Ohio Revised Code, sexual battery is sexual conduct with someone other than a spouse, in this case specifically when the “other person is confined in a detention facility, and the offender is an employee of that detention facility.”

A special prosecutor has been called in for the case and the investigation is being handled by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

Tucker had been scheduled to appear Monday, Nov. 20 but the arraignment was heard by Meigs County Court Judge Steven Story. Judge Story released Tucker from custody on an Own Recognizance (OR) bond. Tucker was represented in the initial arraignment by attorney Charles Knight. Tucker is set to appear again in court at 10:30 a.m. on Monday for a hearing.

All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.