MILLERSBURG —A Millersburg area man on Monday admitted to possessing, but not sharing, child pornography, reducing him maximum possible sentence from 24 year to six years in prison.
Arlin Schlabach. 49, 6061 State Route 241, Millersburg, pleaded guilty in Holmes County Common Pleas Court to four counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor. The charges, all fourth-degree felonies, each carry a potential of up to 18 months in prison.
In exchange for his guilty plea, the state agreed to dismiss two counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor, one count of attempted two counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor and two counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.
There was no agreement as to sentencing; …show more content…
25 will be a sex offender assessment, to be completed on order of the court.
Schlabach kept his head bowed as Warner outlined the case for Judge Robert Rinfret, who asked Schlabach if he, in fact, realized the children in the videos he downloaded, “may have been as young as 5 years old.”
Warner said he offered the plea because it was unknown if Schlabach knowingly shared or published any of the downloaded images, although consent would have been included in his agreement to participate in file sharing.
A guilty plea, he said, provided an opportunity to argue for incarceration, as well as a 25-year sex offender designation, without having to display for jurors the offensive and illegal materials.
He said resolution of the case with a plea also is a better use of county and state resources and is consistent with how such cases have been handled in the past.
While the charges were representative of 58 files found on Schlabach’s computer, Warner did say any evidence Schlabach purposefully engaged in the filming of child pornography or shared it would have been approached differently.
The deal was in Schlabach’s best interest, said defense attorney Jeff Kellogg, who alluded to some of the factual issues identified by Warner, but deferred discussing specifics until after