A memorial rock that had been in front of Paulding Middle School in honor of former teacher Don Schnepp has been removed.
Last month, the Paulding Exempted Village Board of Education was asked to remove the rock after a former student told the board that he was raped as an eighth-grader by a teacher in 1982. Now, it is known that the teacher was Schnepp.
Schnepp has since died, and his death was ruled a suicide.
Since then, other former students have come forward to say that they too were allegedly molested by Schnepp more than 30 years ago while attending school at Paulding.
Paulding County Sheriff Jason Landers says that due to the fact that Schnepp is dead, and that the alleged abuse happened more than 30 years ago, there isn’t much that can be done now.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures website, Ohio’s special statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse, which came into effect Aug. 3, 2006, states that the law gives victims 12 years from their age of majority to bring actions against their perpetrators.