Morgan County Sheriff Douglas McGrath reports that on the late afternoon of Sunday, April 19, 2020, the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on the residence located in the Rosefarm area of York Township. The search warrant was a product of a weekend investigation into a case of child sexual abuse and child pornography involving an 8-month-old infant.
The investigation was a joint effort between Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, Perry County Sheriff’s Office, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), and Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC).
Evidence that was collected during the investigation and during the search warrant resulted in the arrest of Zachariah Wicker, 21 years old of Perry County, Ohio. Wicker was incarcerated in the Southern Ohio Regional Jail pending an appearance in Court.
On Monday, April 20, 2020, Wicker was officially charged with statutory rape, Wicker appeared in Morgan County Court and was placed on a $1 million bond.
Sheriff McGrath stated, “I would like to extend kudos to everyone involved in getting this case to a quick resolve, this includes Prosecutor Mark Howdyshell, Morgan County Children’s Services and Perry County Sheriff’s Office. I especially want to commend all of my Deputies involved in this case. My Deputies put forth a lot of time and effort to ensure that the victim is now safe. It deeply disturbs me to have such a horrific crime being committed in our community, but I am so glad that we have a dedicated, caring team here at the Sheriff’s office that was able to identify this crime, quickly act upon it and put an abrupt halt to it.”
