STEUBENVILLE RAPE CASE

Woman faces charges of theft from district

Grand jury investigating crimes related to August, 2012, assault

10/24/2013

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — An eastern Ohio woman who worked for the Steubenville school district has been charged with theft and receiving stolen property in the second indictment issued by a special grand jury investigating whether other crimes were committed related to a high school rape case. However, the charge is unrelated to the rape case.

Hannah Rhinaman, 20, of Mingo Junction has been summoned to appear in court Friday, when she’ll be arraigned on three felony counts. She could not be reached and did not have an attorney listed Wednesday.

Ms. Rhinaman is the daughter of Steubenville City Schools Technology Director William Rhinaman, 53, who was indicted on Oct. 7 on counts of tampering with evidence, perjury, obstructing justice, and obstructing official business.

Her charges are separate and unrelated to those against her father, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a news release. Mr. Rhinaman also is scheduled to be in court Friday for a pretrial hearing in Steubenville before visiting Judge Susan Gosgrove.

According to the indictment, Ms. Rhinaman is accused of taking district property valued at more than $1,000 on or about Aug. 20 through Sept. 21, 2012, and separately having district property that investigators said she knew or should have known was stolen, also valued at more than $1,000.

Ms. Rhinaman was hired last year to assist the technology department in setting up the district’s computer labs and updating software, according to a statement from the Steubenville Board of Education. She worked at the district for 118 hours at $7.70 per hour on a purchase-services contract from Aug. 20 to Sept. 12, 2012.

If convicted on all counts, Ms. Rhinaman could be sentenced to as much as three years in prison.

Football players Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’Lik Richmond, 17, were found delinquent of raping a 16-year-old Weirton, W.Va., girl during a night of partying Aug. 11, 2012.

Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Molly Born is a staff writer for the Post-Gazette.

Contact her at: mborn@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1944, or on Twitter @borntolede.