PORTSMOUTH- Andrea Crager, of Portsmouth, appeared July 7 in Scioto County Court of Common Pleas wearing stripes and handcuffs. She was granted judicial release on a case that originated on charges of endangering children and complicity and committing an offense.

In February 2022, Crager, a former EMT, was arrested on a domestic violence charge. Upon making bond for that, Scioto County sheriff’s deputies accompanied her to retrieve some items from the home she shared with Nathan Fodge.

“During this escort, deputies received information of a possible sexual assault involving a minor,” states the sheriff’s office’s news release of the incident. “The investigation revealed that a juvenile female had been having sexual conduct with an adult male for over a year.”

Crager was charged with one count of complicity to sexual battery, a third-degree felony, one count of complicity to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a third-degree felony, and one count of child endangerment, also a third-degree felony. She pleaded guilty on Feb. 27 this year and was sentenced to 30 months at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.

Standing before Judge Howard H. Harcha III, Crager was crying as she and her attorney Christine Scott detailed that she was getting counseling both individually and with her child who is involved in the case. The teenage child has been placed with an aunt.

Scott also detailed Crager’s work as an EMT and her involvement in hurricane relief and her work as a first responder during the COVID pandemic.

“She is that first responder that takes all of those duties,” Scott said. “She also needs to get her life back on track.

“She has family support, who is here today. She’s going to work 15 jobs if she has to, even if it’s digging ditches. I advocate for her to get this judicial release. This is going to be a one-off for her. This is not a situation where we’ll have a repeat offender.”

Harcha granted the judicial release, but told Crager he would be sending her back to prison for the remainder of the 30 months if she violated the rules of her judicial release.

Fodge was arrested and charged with one count of sexual battery, a third-degree felony, one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a third-degree felony, and one count of child endangerment, also a third-degree felony. He was indicted Feb. 24, 2022, on several counts of rape, sexual battery, unlawful sex with a minor, and endangering children. Fodge is next scheduled to appear in court on July 20.