MARION, OH (MARION COUNTY NOW) – A Marion County man is facing up to 84 years in prison after pleading guilty in a child pornography case.
Jon A. Vitello, age 39, Marion, pleaded guilty to all ten counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor, each one a felony of the second degree, for which he was indicted by the Marion County grand jury. He entered the plea on Wednesday in Marion County Common Pleas Court. Judge Matthew P. Frericks has scheduled the sentencing hearing for Vitello at 9 a.m. on Jan. 4, 2024.
“(Marion County) Prosecutor Ray Grogan wants to send a strong message that those who are involved with sexual offenses have to be dealt with severely,” Assistant Prosecutor Mark Weaver said after Vitello entered his guilty plea on Wednesday. “This case was entirely based on evidence that law enforcement found on his devices when they went to his house. In many of these cases that I’ve prosecuted in other counties, we’ve found that the offenders have dozens or hundreds of images.”
Earlier this year, investigators from the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) alerted detectives with the Marion Police Department that they had discovered that Vitello had downloaded 3,483 “images and/or videos … some of which not only depicted juvenile and prepubescent females in a state of nudity but showed prepubescent female children engaging in sexual acts.” Local police then arrested Vitello on March 1.
Marion Police Chief Jay McDonald said in a press release issued on March 2 that detectives “acted quickly to investigate this case because Mr. Vitello was employed as a contractor to Galion City Schools as an athletic trainer. Despite his proximity to children, the detectives have found no evidence to suggest that Mr. Vitello was engaged in inappropriate or illegal activity involving students.”
Vitello was employed by Avita Health System as an athletic trainer assigned to the Galion City School District during the time period that he was accused of downloading the illicit images and videos, which investigators said occurred over several years. Some images found dated back to January 2019.
Weaver said investigators determined that none of the children shown in the images and videos Vitello downloaded were from either Crawford or Marion county. He noted that investigators believe that many of the children lived abroad.
Following his arrest, Vitello was initially indicted on four counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor by the grand jury when it was convened on March 8, 2023. The grand jury handed down a supplemental indictment on May 17, 2023, adding six more counts of the same charge. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Vitello remains in custody at the Multi-County Correctional Center in Marion while he awaits the sentencing hearing in January. Following the sentencing hearing, he will be remanded to the custody of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and transferred to the Correctional Reception Center at Orient in Pickaway County. He will then be assigned to a state prison where he will serve the sentence imposed by Judge Frericks.