Suspect in child sex abuse case heading to prison
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (March 23, 2022) – A former Uhrichsville man will be spending more than a decade behind bars for sex offenses involving children.
42-year-old Edward Dingman on Monday pleaded guilty to an amended indictment charging him with counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor and illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court Judge Elizabeth Thomakos presided over the hearing and sentenced Dingman to 11 to 15 years in prison after commending his victims for reporting the offenses.
“I appreciate your presence here, your willingness to step forward and I hope that you find a way to overcome all of these things that you’re described to me,” she said. “Remember that you’re the victor. You’re the winner here, and you’re the one with the courage.”
The crimes involved three girls whose ages ranged from 12 to 15. Dingman apologized to them during the hearing.
“To say I’m sorry is not even… I can’t even come close to saying what it is I want to say. I have spent countless nights awake beating myself up. I just hope at some point in time I can be forgiven. I can honestly say that nobody hates me more than I do myself for what it is that I did.”
The conviction carries a Tier II Sex Offender designation. Dingman in 2008 was convicted of sexual imposition in a case out of Harrison County and was sentenced to 30 days in jail followed by 60 days of house arrest.