PICKAWAY – A previous sex offender who was a registered sex offender pleaded no contest after being caught again with thousands of files of pornographic images involving minors in May and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, has been out on bond dodging his sentence due to filing an appeal has lost that appeal.
According to the Circleville Police Department on February 22nd, 2021, the Circleville Police Department, Circleville Probation Department, and the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the Ohio State Highway Patrol Computer Crimes Unit conducted a search warrant at 423 East Franklin Street after receiving tips that pornographic images involving minors were being sent and received at the residence. Upon the search warrant being conducted multiple electronic devices were seized for evidentiary processing along with multiple firearms.
On, March 5th, 2021 the digital evidence analysis was completed and it was discovered that over 1,000 files of pornographic images involving minors were located on an electronic device belonging to Nicholas Goff. Nicholas, who is also a registered Tier II sex offender, was previously convicted for charges related to possessing pornographic images of minors. During his trial, Goff did not stay in jail but was released on a 50,000-dollar bond and was on house arrest.
In May 2022 he pleaded guilty to Four counts of Pandering Sexually Oriented Matter Involving a Minor or Impaired Person – F2 Three counts of Pandering Sexually Oriented Matter Involving a Minor or Impaired Person. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison a Lifetime tier 3 sex offender, and 10,000 dollars in fines.
Shortly after the trial Nicholas Goff hired an attorney and appealed the sentence imposed in his case. His attorney filed a notice of appeal as well as a request to suspend the execution of the sentence imposed by the Court. The Court, in response to said motion to stay sentencing, set a $250,000 appeal bond. Mr. Goff’s family was able to secure and post such a bond therefore, during the pendency of his appeal, absent any violations of the bond, Mr. Goff remained out of prison and in the community. Conditions of his bond are he is “not to possess any electronic devices, including computers, phones, tablets, and other related devices.”
Goff’s appeal was that he felt that his charges did not warrant consecutive sentences, even though the images he downloaded were of children 2 to 12 years of age depicting the rape of those children. In the appeal, it states, ” The descriptions alone of the images and videos found on Goff’s devices are the stuff of nightmares. Goff possessed multiple images on two different devices that appear to have been downloaded on two different devices, as well as the fact that it appears that images/videos involved different victims all of differing ages being subjected to different types of physical and sexual abuse, we find Goff’s actions in committing the offenses at issue constituted a course of conduct sufficient to justify the imposition of consecutive sentences.”
On December 26, 2023, local courts overturned Goff’s appeal, Goff then appealed to the Supreme Court of Ohio with arguments that the sentencing was to harsh, but the Supreme Court agreed with local courts. Today Pickaway County demanded that Goff’s bond be revoked and Goff is ordered to commence execution of his sentence by turning himself in to Pickaway County Sheriff’s office to start his 20-year sentence.
