PORT CLINTON, OH -- He was hired to protect and serve the citizens of the village of Elmore in Ottawa County, Instead, he tried to seduce a 14 year old girl.
On Tuesday morningFormer Elmore police officer Shaun Harder entered guilty pleas to reduced charges of attempted contributing to the unruliness of a minor and complicity to obstruct justice. Harder was accused of sending lewd text messages to a 14 year old acquaintance and asking her to have sex with him.
Harder was originally charged with three counts of contributing to the unruliness of a minor, two counts of use of a minor in nudity oriented material, two counts of disseminating matter harmful to a minor, one count of obstruction of official business, and one count of tampering with evidence.
Harder was sentenced to 120 days in jail. The judge suspended the jail sentence. He was ordered to stay away from the minor in question and her family, pay a $600 fine, and pay for counseling services for the minor in question. The cost of those services will be determined later.
Harder reportedly exchanged more than 1,200 text messages with the girl, at one point asking her to lose her virginity with her. Her family became aware of the messages and reported them to police.
Harder has been under house arrest since September.
In an unrelated matter, Harder was charged in January 2010 of making threatening statements on Facebook about how horses which had been rescued from an area farm were being treated. A jury found him not guilty on a charge of aggravated menacing.
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