DELAWARE, Ohio — As the judge ticked off the guilty verdicts against the former Olentangy elementary schoolteacher, a mother of one of the victims began weeping. Other parents also began to cry, holding their spouses in their arms as they listened to “guilty,” “guilty,” “guilty.”
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
Jurors deliberated for more than eight hours on Monday before finding Matthew Rausenberg guilty on 41 —all but one — counts in connection with the sexual assault of several of his students.
Rausenberg sat with his hands clasped, periodically looking down and shaking his head as each count was read.
The weeklong trial of Rausenberg had gone to the jury about 2 p.m. Monday. Jurors came back to the courtroom of Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge David Gormley about 9:30 p.m. to say they had a verdict, after having come in several times earlier to hear long recitations of testimony from the court reporter. They also had questions for the judge about what would happen if they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.
In the end, Rausenberg, 40, was found guilty of 34 counts of gross sexual imposition; four counts of kidnapping; and three counts of pandering sexually oriented materials. All counts are felonies and related to nine children who were victimized by him. Rausenberg could be sent to prison for life when he’s sentenced Thursday morning.
He was found not guilty of one count of kidnapping.