Ohio prosecutors dismiss charges of tampering with evidence and obstructing justice in exchange for Michael McVey’s resignation from the district

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Ohio prosecutors have dismissed all charges against a school district superintendent accused of covering up the rape of a 16-year-old girl by members of the high school football team, in exchange for his resignation from the district, his attorney said on Monday.

Steubenville superintendent Michael McVey had been due to go on trial on Monday, accused of tampering with evidence and obstructing justice when the prosecutor dismissed the charges.

“We can still seek employment from other schools or other school systems, or anything like that,” said McVey’s attorney, Charles Bean. “I don’t know what Mike plans to do. This was something that was obviously great for us, I mean, whenever you have the prosecution go in and dismiss the entire case that’s fine.”



McVey was accused of wiping hard drives, erasing emails and lying to investigators to cover up a rape perpetrated and shared online by members of the town’s beloved football team, the Big Red.



Two members of the team were convicted in juvenile court in March 2013 and found “delinquent” for raping the West Virginia girl at a party. Images of the girl’s naked body were shared on social media, and in Steubenville students discussed the case widely.

Both players, Ma’lik Richmond and Trenton Mays, have since been released and are registered sex offenders. Richmond rejoined the football team in August.

The November 2012 crime went relatively uncovered by the media until January 2013, when interested exploded, partly due to the involvement of the Anonymous hacker collective. Richmond and Mays were convicted in March 2013.



Charges against McVey stem from a grand jury investigation held by the Ohio attorney general, Mike DeWine. DeWine personally signed as special prosecutor in an indictment against McVey.



Six adults were indicted on charges stemming from the same case, most on misdemeanor charges. McVey’s is the penultimate indictment to be resolved. The district’s former technology director William Rhinaman has pleaded not guilty to similar charges.



The court is still hearing pre-trial motions in Rhinaman’s case, and no court date has been set.



“Following the resignation of Michael McVey today as superintendent of Steubenville city schools and agreement not to be employed by Steubenville City Schools in any capacity, the attorney general’s office has agreed to dismiss without prejudice all pending charges regarding his alleged failures, as the chief administrator of the schools, to cooperate with [the Bureau of Criminal Investigations] in its investigations of alleged rapes involving Steubenville high school students,” said DeWine in a statement on Monday.



“I am satisfied that he has been held accountable for his actions with this agreement and consider this a just result,” DeWine said.



A spokesperson for DeWine’s office, Dan Tierney, said that the attorney general does not expect further indictments in the Steubenville case. He declined to elaborate on any possible agreement between the prosecution and McVey.



Tierney said the grand jury was the “last portion” of the investigation, but that the case was “ongoing in the sense that there is still one case proceeding”, referring to Rhinaman’s case.



The school district’s assistant high school football coach, assistant wrestling coach, principal of its elementary school, and the technology director and his daughter were indicted on charges that ranged from child neglect to obstruction of justice.