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Chad Essert, the 44-year-old Republican police chief of Bethel, Ohio, was arrested and indicted last Thursday on 56 counts of sexual battery and 14 counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. He faces up to 280 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
The alleged incidents occurred between 2005 and 2010 while Essert served as a teacher in Sharonville and an instructor at the Young Marines, a national youth program for children ages 8 through high school.
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Essert became Bethel’s police chief in 2021. Reporting from 2023 found that he had been fired or resigned under threat of firing from three of his previous law enforcement jobs for allegedly sexually harassing a female officer, intimidating witnesses, lying, and disobeying orders. A 2020 domestic violence charge accused him of hitting a woman with his vehicle, causing minor injuries.
Conservative Christians and Republicans have repeatedly accused LGBTQ+ people and allies of “grooming” and “sexualizing” children. Essert is just the latest of a long line of Republicans to face legal consequences for such alleged crimes.