A South Webster man has been charged with having unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Buddy Blizzard, 27, faces the charge, a third degree felony, for reportedly having sex with a 16-year-old family member, who was 15 when the activity began.
Scioto County Sheriff Marty V. Donini said the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office received a report Tuesday from Scioto County Children Services, reporting a 16-year-old had been having sexual relations with a family member for the last year.
“He was arrested here at the office,” Scioto County Sheriff’s Detective Jodi Conkel said. “I brought him in for an interview and arrested him on the spot.”
Blizzard is being held in the Scioto County Jail on $10,000 bond and will appear this morning in Portsmouth Municipal Court.
Conkel said she see’s cases similar to this one on an almost-daily basis.
“There are very few days that I don’t get something like that,” Conkel said.
She said the release of the information on the arrest will probably bring on other cases.
“It seems like every time that I make an arrest and they put it in the paper, three or four more will come forward,” Conkel said. “It’s almost like they are thinking, ‘it’s O.K. to report it because they are going to do something about it so it’s O.K. to tell’.”
Conkel said it is important for young people to know it is O.K. to report any such activity.
“They need to know it is not their fault. They are a victim,” Conkel said. “They are scared.”
Donini said more charges will be presented to the Scioto County Grand Jury at a later date.
Scioto County Sheriff’s Captain David Hall was asked if the increased sexual activity involving minors is peculiar to Scioto County.
“I don’t know that we have seen any more than any other county, but we pursue it very aggressively,” Hall said. “Especially when it involves children. Detective Conkel does an incredible job with it, all the way from handling the victims to aggressively pursuing the suspects, and taking their confessions. She puts her heart into it.”
Hall went on to say all of the investigators and deputies in the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office, “put their hearts into all of our criminal investigations. They treat it like it is their own family.”
Donini said anyone with information regarding the Blizzard case can contact Conkel at (740) 351-1091. All calls will remain anonymous.
FRANK LEWIS may be reached at (740) 353-3101 Ext. 232