After nearly a decade of arrests for fondling women, often on buses or on the Ohio State University campus, Lonnie Sturdivant is headed back to jail for 266 days after police caught him taking a COTA bus to campus, a violation of court orders.

A serial groper who has been banned from COTA buses and the Ohio State University campus can’t seem to stay away from either.

Lonnie Sturdivant, 62, was sentenced Tuesday to 266 days in jail after admitting that he rode a Central Ohio Transit Authority bus to Ohio State, where he was arrested by campus police Jan. 9.

He has long been banned from the campus and the bus system because of nearly a decade of arrests for groping women on the buttocks, often on buses or on campus.

Sturdivant, a registered sex offender, pleaded guilty Tuesday to misdemeanor charges of trespassing and unauthorized access to public transportation.

The sentence, imposed by Franklin County Municipal Court Judge James P. O’Grady, included 94 days for violating probation in a 2018 case in which Sturdivant pleaded guilty to improper use of public transportation.

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Despite numerous jail sentences, some as long as a year, Sturdivant seems incapable of controlling his behavior, often offending again within days of his release.

The latest case grew out of a call to Columbus police from a woman who said a man had grabbed her at a coffee shop in German Village, said Joseph Gibson, first assistant city attorney.

When police arrived, the woman was gone, but officers saw Sturdivant getting on a COTA bus and followed him to campus, he said.

The arrest came one week after Sturdivant was released from jail for time served for a December incident in which he placed his hand on a woman’s back at a campus-area restaurant and was later seen on surveillance video loitering at the Ohio State library.

jfutty@dispatch.com

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