By: Renea Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
renea@thevillagereporter.com
Fulton County Common Pleas Court has continued the pretrial hearing for Owen P. King, 25, of Archbold, to July 31 at 10 a.m.
The case involves multiple felony charges against King, a former educator in the Fayette Local School District. His bond remains unchanged.
In April, King was indicted by a Fulton County grand jury on a total of 19 criminal counts.
These include four fifth-degree felonies for importuning, eight counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person—with one listed as a second-degree felony and seven as fourth-degree felonies—five fifth-degree felonies for disseminating harmful material to juveniles, one fourth-degree felony for pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor or impaired person, and one second-degree felony for the illegal use of a minor or impaired individual in nudity-oriented material or performance.
Following his indictment, King waived both the reading of the charges and the mandatory waiting period, and he pleaded not guilty to all counts.
He was released on a recognizance bond with several conditions, including a ban on unsupervised contact with minors, use of social media, and access to any pornographic content.
King formally resigned from his position with Fayette Local Schools in early May. Superintendent Angela Belcher confirmed that he had been placed on administrative leave immediately upon the district learning of his arrest
According to investigators, the offenses are alleged to have occurred between January 1 and March 17.
During that time, King is accused of using a telecommunications device to solicit sexual activity from a victim believed to be between 13 and 15 years old, while knowing, or being reckless in not knowing, that he was at least four years older than the victim.
Authorities also allege that King produced or directed obscene content involving a minor, knowingly possessed such material, and disseminated it to a juvenile or undercover officers posing as juveniles.
Additional accusations claim he obtained and held material depicting minors in sexual acts or states of nudity, and that he created or distributed such content.