Hocking County couple charged with sexually exploiting four girls, including 3-year-old

Jordan Laird, The Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
A judge's gavel rests on a book of law.

A Hocking County couple is accused of sexually abusing four children in their care – including a then-3-year-old child – as well as producing child pornography and possessing thousands of images of child sexual abuse.

Robert Gemienhardt, 37, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Columbus to sexually exploiting a minor – a crime punishable by 15 to 30 years in prison – and possessing child pornography.

His significant other, Carrie Daniels, 41, is expected to plead guilty on Oct. 5 to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

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According to court documents, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a tip in December from Kik, a messaging app, regarding Gemienhardt’s online child exploitation activities. The Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Hocking County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the allegations in February.

Gimienhardt was previously registered as a Tier 1 sex offender in Ohio after he pleaded guilty in 2021 in Franklin County to sexual imposition and was sentenced to probation. The Hocking County Sheriff’s Office used the sex offender registry to locate his home in Logan, about 48 miles southeast of Columbus.

Authorities discovered that four minor females ranging in age from 5 to 17 lived there with Gimienhardt and Daniels, according to court records.

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Search warrants executed by the Hocking County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the FBI led to evidence that Gemienhardt and Daniels were producing child pornography by grooming and sexually abusing the four girls, court records indicate.

Authorities found more than 1,000 images and 350 videos depicting child sexual abuse on Gemienhardt’s cellphones and computer, according to court documents. Some of those images were made in 2020 and depicted the youngest child in their home, then 3 years old, in sexual acts with Daniels and/or Gemienhardt, court records state.

Gemienhardt and Daniels exchanged thousands of text messages describing their sexual fantasies about the minor victims and their plans to act on some of those fantasies, according to court documents.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Hocking County couple charged with sexually exploiting four girls