LEBANON, Ohio —

A Deerfield Township man accused of sexually assaulting children had his bond set at $300,000 Thursday.

John "Ben" Reynolds, 53, is charged with one count of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition. Detectives with the Warren County Sheriff's Office said they've identified three victims who were known to Reynolds.

According to court documents obtained by WLWT, the children are currently between 13 and 14 years old. Two are girls and one is a boy. Documents state the sexual assaults started in 2016 and took place at multiple locations including Liberty Center, the KOA campground in Lebanon, a local YMCA and Reynolds' home.

The children told social workers who interviewed them that Reynolds would buy them items such as jewelry, clothes, stuffed animals, toys and candy, according to court documents.

The investigation into the assaults began after the mother of a child reported Reynolds to Butler County Children Services in April.

During Reynolds' arraignment Thursday, his attorney, Edward Perry, said his client was a family man.

"He is married, judge. He's been married for 29 years, and he's got three grown children," Perry said.

Perry said his client moved to Warren County after graduating from Southern Illinois University in 1992.

"He came to Warren County and made Warren County his home, and he's been here ever since. He was married here. He purchased and bought a home in Mason, Ohio. Him, his wife and his family have been in that house in Mason for the last 22 years," Perry said.

Perry said Reynolds has been employed as a software developer, most recently by the Cincinnati Financial Corporation.

"He suspects that, because of his arrest, that job is no longer available to him," Perry said.

Detectives said Reynolds was involved with a Boy Scout troop out of Mason, but they say the children are not associated with the scouts.

Reynolds is scheduled to be back in Lebanon Municipal Court on June 2 for a preliminary hearing.

Cecilia Otero an Oklahoma resident, is asking herself a lot of questions these days.

"Plan B, do I need to go and buy like, you know, a few to have on hand just in case? There's also the Plan C pill, and I'm just like, living in Oklahoma. I'm just like, well, how do I access that? And I don't know, like, my options feel very dwindled," Otero said.

At just shy of 32, she's made the call that she doesn’t want to have children. But in her home state of Oklahoma, she knows that should she get pregnant — she'd have some tough decisions to make.

"I feel like I don't have that right to choose anymore," Otero said.

And — she really doesn’t. Just about two months ago, Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed a total abortion ban into law, enforced by civil lawsuits similar to the 2021 law upheld in Texas. It was just the latest in a string of anti-abortion bills in the state, but it’s the one that took care to a screeching halt.

Tamya Cox-Toure is the Executive Director at ACLU Oklahoma.

"Because of the fear of being sued with a $10,000 balance sheet, providers took the necessary steps in Oklahoma and stopped care on Friday when it went into effect," Cox-Toure said.

Abortion care facilities have been sitting vacant for more than a month — and even abortion care funds have been put on pause while lawyers figure out the legalities of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe.

"We have no idea what assist means. So people who may donate to our abortion fund, could they be in violation of these laws? People who help someone go to a state where abortion is legal, are they now in violation?" Cox-Toure said.

Oklahoma’s Attorney General John O’Connor on Friday that he believes the law is clear.

"I would say if you put up a billboard or if you advertise that that you're going to provide abortions in Oklahoma or in another state, that you're soliciting an abortion. So law enforcement is now activated with respect to any efforts to aid, abet, or solicit abortions," O’Connor said.

There are currently a handful of challenges in front of the state supreme court — dating back to 2017. But for now, their eyes are on Kansas — the only nearby state that permits abortion. But voters will weigh in there on a ballot initiative in August that could end that safe haven.

"We would be very much the, you know, abortion access desert because of where we are," Cox-Toure said.

Should it be successful — there may be an effort for a ballot initiative here, too. After all — a recent poll showed more than half of Oklahomans did not want to see a total ban.

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SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio —

Another shoe has dropped in the investigation of suspected abuse at Hillcrest Academy.

Hamilton County and Juvenile Court announced Wednesday afternoon they will end their contractual ties to Rite of Passage, which runs the treatment program for at-risk youth at Hillcrest.

The decision comes in the wake of allegations that surfaced within the past few days from a worker there.

An investigation is underway into whether a female staff member sexually assaulted at least one student.

There was an emergency Juvenile Court meeting about it over the weekend.

According to a joint statement this afternoon from Hamilton County Juvenile Court and Hamilton County Job and Family Services, "On Saturday, HCJC held an emergency shelter hearing to remove all 12 of the children the Court placed at Hillcrest. HCJFS is also in the process of relocating its residents. In addition, the County Administrator and the Administrative Judge have given notice that it intends to terminate its contract with Rite of Passage."

The statement mentioned there were 50 current residents at Hillcrest.

A dozen were placed there by Juvenile Court, six by Jobs and Family Services.

The rest of the residents were sent to Hillcrest by other entities from out of state.

Neither Hamilton County leaders nor anyone from Juvenile Court would say anything further about the separation, referring all questions to the Hamilton County Prosecutor.

As for the criminal investigation, the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office said there is nothing new to release at this time.

LEBANON, Ohio —

The trial continued Tuesday for a former youth sports coach on trial for sex crimes involving children.

Eric Schmidt is charged with one count of rape, two counts of gross sexual imposition and two counts of public indecency.

Tuesday's testimony centered around text messages one of the accusers sent to friends the night she claims she was molested.

That accuser is 19 years old, but she was 12 in 2015 — the year prosecutors say crimes against her were committed.

The teenager said she was friends with Schmidt's daughter and was at their house for a sleepover in April 2015.

During her testimony, she read text messages she sent to friends that night from Schmidt's home in Mason.

"I said, 'I really don't understand why you find that funny. No, seriously, it's a remarried man trying to rape a freaking 12-year-old kid," the accuser said.

She said Schmidt exposed himself and touched her inappropriately in the theatre room of the house after his daughter fell asleep.

Assistant prosecutor Travis Vieux asked her, "Did the defendant touch your hand?"

"Yes," she said.

Vieux asked, "Did he touch your arm?"

"Yes," she said.

Vieux asked, "Did he rub up your arm?"

"Yes," she said.

Vieux asked, "Did he touch your shoulder?"

"Yes," she said.

Vieux asked, "Did he touch your breast?"

"Yes," she said.

While prosecutors are trying to use the accuser's texts as proof that Schmidt is guilty of gross sexual imposition and public indecency, defense attorneys tried using the messages to their advantage.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Bill Gallagher asked, "Eric is trying to touch you?"

"Yes," she said.

Gallagher asked, "You don't yell, right?"

"No," she said.

Gallagher asked, "You said you just sort of froze?"

"Yes," she said."

Gallagher questioned how could she be frozen at the same time she carried on text message conversations with multiple friends.

"Does it shock you at all, in all of your text messaging in here, there's not a single spelling mistake, but you're stressed out and trying to figure out what to do?" Gallagher said.

"It's called autocorrect," the accuser said.

Mason Detective Jeff Wyss also took the stand Tuesday. He said he began to investigate the 2015 allegations, but the case was closed when the accuser's family decided not to pursue charges.

That case was reopened in 2019 after a second accuser, also 12 at the time, made allegations against Schmidt.

He's been charged with rape in that case.

Prosecutors said that accuser was sexually assaulted at a party for football families in the Kings and Mason area.

Schmidt had coached youth football, baseball and softball.

That girl is 14 years old now and is expected to testify Wednesday.

Before calling her to the stand, prosecutors called a relative of Schmidt's to testify about what she said she witnessed in January 2015 when she was temporarily staying with the family.

She was 19 years old at the time.

She said she was alone with Schmidt watching Vampire Diaries when he suggested they watch the show downstairs.

She said they relocated to the theater room and continued watching Netflix.

Vieux asked her to describe what Schmidt did that she thought to be sexually inappropriate.

"When we were watching Netflix, after some time, the notice on the Netflix screen says 'Do you wish to continue? Click yes or no.' That had popped up. I looked to my right to see if the remote was near me to click yes. It wasn't there. I had turned to my left and Mr. Schmidt was sitting there with his genitals out," the relative said.

Schmidt has not been charged with any crime in connection to that incident.

Schmidt maintains his innocence. Gallagher previously said Schmidt passed a polygraph test.

Lawmakers in Arkansas passed legislation to ban gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth earlier this year, becoming the first state to make such a move. Now the ACLU is fighting back.

They have filed a lawsuit against state officials representing two physicians, four trans youths and their parents. The Brandt family is among them.

“It was years of going back and forth, trying to figure out who I was," said Dylan Brandt, a 15-year-old trans youth.

Self-discovery has been a journey for Dylan but two years ago everything changed when he handed his mom a letter.

“And in the letter he signed it 'your son Dylan,'" said Joanna Brandt, Dylan's mother.

That summer was a new beginning for this transgender teen. Nearly a year later was the start of hormone therapy. Dylan and his mother Joanna say that was the answer to much of his depression and anxiety.

“Most of that went away. The anxiety about going out to places, going to see people, gone. It changed everything. I’m so much happier, I’m so much more confident," Dylan said.

“It’s all of the things that give him the space to fully encompass externally how he feels on the inside," Joanna said.

Now, nearly ten months later, all of Dylan's progress could come to a halt. Arkansas, his home state, has passed a bill that would ban health care professionals from providing transition-related care to transgender minors.

Holly Dickson, the Executive Director of ACLU Arkansas says this ban has already done damage.

“This is such a sweeping government intrusion into the private lives of these young people. They have been targeted because they are transgender young people and it takes away their parents' autonomy to work with their physicians and make the best decisions for themselves," Dickson said.

“We’ve had at least six trans youth attempt suicide just since the time they heard these bills were filed. It is absolutely horrible.”

“That gender-affirming medical care that they are trying to take away from him is that thing that has allowed him to be exactly who he knows he is, exactly who I know who he is, in a way that he wasn’t able to before and he would not be able to if this ban actually took effect," Joanna said.

Arkansas Republican Sen. Alan Clark, the sponsor of the bill, claims the bill is necessary for protection. He denied our interview request but made these comments on the Senate floor about gender-affirming treatment for youth:

“At best, experimental, and at worst, a serious threat to a child’s welfare," Clark said.

Teenagers like Dylan couldn’t disagree more.

“It’s not just something that we wake up one day and say, 'hey I want to do this. Because that seems fun.' No it’s not fun," Dylan said.

“People think that these kids come to their parents and say, 'hey, I’m transgender, I want hormones,' and we go, 'sweet,' and we go out the next day and we get them for him, without seeking out the advice and the expertise of those in the field. That’s not what happened," Joanna said.

Clark claims that children are too young to make this decision before turning 18 years old.

“But this is certainly not the answer, it is not the answer today. This does not stop anyone at 18 from doing whatever they want to do. But it does protect children from making mistakes that they will have a very difficult time coming back from.”

But Joanna says age is not a factor when it comes to knowing who you are.

“I don’t need to be 18 before I know who I am and these kids don’t either," Joanna said.

Arkansas' bill is pushing families out of the state they call home.

“At this point in my life, I have been seeing more families who are thinking about and who are leaving the state of Arkansas because of this bill and other anti-trans-legislation that was filed and passed this session," Dickson said

Former Republican state Rep. Dan Douglas has voted for some anti-trans bills in the past.

“I would have voted against this bill," Douglas said. “I don’t think the legislator and some of these very extreme bills and these very extreme votes really represent the accepting nature of the state of Arkansas.”

This, he says, is too black and white. It needs exceptions.

“Whenever legislation gets in the way of physician patient treatment and decisions, then we are interfering and we're going too far," Douglass said.

“The government doesn’t have any business getting in the middle of medical between parents, patients, and medical professionals, it’s not their lane," Joanna said.

Arkansas is the first state to make this move, but according to the ACLU, similar bills have been or are being considered in 19 other states.

"Every major medical organization in the nation opposed this law," Dickson said.

As families like Dylan’s fight against this, they remind us: this isn’t just policy, this is their lives.

“We are real people with real feelings," Dylan said.

“He is every bit the boy that any other boy I know is," Joanna said.