Adams County man convicted in kidnapping, assault case after jury trial
A Blue Creek emergency call led to Leo Cassidy’s conviction on kidnapping and assault charges after a Scioto County jury trial. He was sentenced to 18 to 20.5 years in prison.
A late-night plea for help in Blue Creek ended with Leo Cassidy, a 46-year-old longtime Adams County resident who had most recently lived in West Portsmouth, being convicted and sentenced in Scioto County for kidnapping and felonious assault. The case began with an Adams County Sheriff’s Office response in the rural State Route 125 corridor, giving the matter direct local relevance even though the trial was held across the county line.
Cassidy was found guilty after a three-day jury trial that ended June 18 in the Scioto County Court of Common Pleas before Judge Howard H. Harcha III. Jurors convicted him of two counts of felonious assault and one count of kidnapping, while he had originally faced six felony counts in all, including one kidnapping count, four felonious assault counts and one attempted felonious assault charge.
The charges grew out of events that unfolded around 1:30 a.m. Jan. 3, 2025, when deputies with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office received several 911 calls about a woman in distress who was going house to house seeking help in the Blue Creek area. When deputies arrived, they found a 39-year-old Scioto County woman with significant facial injuries.
The woman told investigators that she had been assaulted while riding as a passenger in a white Nissan Altima and that she jumped from the moving vehicle. That account, coupled with the injuries deputies found in Blue Creek, set in motion a case that moved from an emergency response in Adams County to a felony prosecution in Scioto County.
The state was represented at trial by chief assistant prosecutor Julie Cooke Hutchinson and assistant prosecutor Matthew Loesch. Cassidy was represented by local attorney Jesse Scott.
The People’s Defender reported that Cassidy was sentenced to 18 to 20.5 years in prison. Under Ohio law, kidnapping is generally a first-degree felony, while felonious assault is generally a second-degree felony, reflecting the seriousness of a case that pulled in Adams County deputies, a Scioto County victim and a jury trial that ended with a lengthy prison term.
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