ASHLAND — David Allen Owens, 61, of Ashland was recently indicted by a grand jury on 19 felony sex offense charges, all of which involved minors as victims, according to the Ashland County Prosecutor’s Office.
Specifically, Owens was indicted on three counts of gross sexual imposition (a third-degree felony), two counts of sexual battery (a third-degree felony), six counts of rape (a first-degree felony), and eight counts of unlawful sexual contact with a minor (a second-degree felony).
Owens allegedly assaulted his six victims, who were all younger than 16 years old with some under 10 years old, over the course of multiple decades in Ashland County, the Prosecutor’s Office stated. All of his victims except for one were allegedly assaulted multiple times.
Additionally, he was the legal guardian of at least two of his victims, according to the indictment.
“It is not unusual in sex-abuse situations to offend over a period of years without detection,” Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell said. “The abuse often goes unreported or, if reported, uncorroborated. Without corroboration of the allegations, it is not possible to bring charges.”
Owens has indicated his intent to fight the charges.
“I’m gonna go ahead and do what I gotta do with it, you know?” Owens said during his pre-trial hearing. “Like I told you, I’m not being thrown underneath the bus, it ain’t gonna happen.”
Owens has a state-appointed attorney, Robert R. Whitney of Inscore, Rinehardt, Whitney and Enderle.
This is the second time this summer that Owens was indicted by a grand jury. He was originally arrested and indicted in June on nine charges involving three underage victims.
Since his arrest in June, police identified additional victims and added them to the new indictment, Tunnell said.
On Aug. 19, Tunnell dismissed the original indictment to pursue the new one, which includes the original charges from June and 10 additional charges.
Owens pleaded not guilty by insanity to the charges and will receive an evaluation from a mental health professional, Tunnell said.
Owens was previously convicted of sexual battery in 1991 when he was also a family member or guardian of his victim. He was sentenced to two years in jail for this crime.
But because Owens was convicted and released before Jan. 1, 1997 when Ohio’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification law took effect, he was not required to register as a sex offender with the Ashland County Sheriff’s Department.
Owens is currently being held at the Ashland County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
The next step in Owens’ case is a disposition on his insanity plea, which is set for Sept. 27 at 9 a.m. If convicted on all of these charges, Owens could spend up to 155 years in prison and pay up to $290,000 in fines.
