A Claremont County man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the horrific abuse of a child placed in his care.
Charlie Thederman, 47, of Milford, was sentenced on August 26, 2025, to a minimum of 240 years in prison.
This comes after a jury found him guilty on July 29, 2025, on a staggering 93 felony charges.
These included rape, gross sexual imposition, sexual battery, and pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, as per Local 12 News.
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| Charlie Thederman |
The disturbing case first came to light in 2022 when the victim bravely came forward to report the sexual abuse.
An investigation by Union Township police led them to Thederman's home, where they executed a search warrant.
According to police reports, detectives discovered several security cameras throughout the house that Thederman had installed, which ended up recording his own crimes.
Police stated that Thederman tried to delete the videos from his phone during the criminal investigation, which led to an additional charge of tampering with evidence.
Despite his desperate efforts, detectives successfully recovered the deleted files, which included numerous videos and photographs of minors engaged in sexual acts.
Thederman chose to represent himself during both the trial and the sentencing hearing.
Before the judge handed down his sentence, Thetterman spoke for nearly 30 minutes.
He blamed everyone but himself, and he even claimed he had a "consensual" relationship with the child victim.
“In every video the state showed, she never asked me to stop any sexual activity, but she had that power,” Thederman told the court.
“In one of the videos the state did not show, [the victim] came to my room and said, ‘I don’t feel like doing anything tonight.’ And my response was, ‘Okay, give me a raincheck for tomorrow,’” he added.
After Thederman finished, the victim, who is now a young woman, addressed the court directly.
She described the six years of abuse and manipulation she endured in Thederman’s home.
“When I turned 13, I never would have expected to be in the position where I'm at. The six years in that home was the worst six years of my life,” she said.
“All the abuse, neglect, hidden by lies to the CPS worker... On top of that, the emotional abuse and manipulation took an immense toll on me. His apologies are like a slap in the face. He's only sorry he got caught. He paints himself as the victim, but we are the survivors of that home.”
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| Charlie Thetterman in court |
Assistant Prosecutor Christina Detillo spoke after the hearing, praising the incredible bravery of the young victim.
She highlighted the unique difficulty of this trial, where the victim was forced to be questioned directly by her own abuser because he represented himself.
“He actually questioned his own victim. She had to look at him and she had to answer his questions as heinous, disgusting, and inappropriate as they were. And she did great. She really did,” Detillo said.
“She was the composed young woman that you saw today. She should be proud of herself, and I hope she is.”
Claremont County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Tekulve also spoke, hoping this case sends a strong message.
He urged any other victims of abuse to come forward and feel safe to report, assuring the public that his office will always seek the harshest sentence possible for those who prey on children.
While technically not called a life sentence, the 240-year prison term means Charlie Thederman will die in prison, and it is currently one of the longest sentences in recent memory for Claremont County.
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