Ron Welch
Muskingum County Prosecutor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Zanesville Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison for Child Sexual Abuse Materials
On December 16, 2025, Joseph Tice, 59, of Zanesville, OH, admitted guilt to five counts of Pandering Sexually Oriented Matter Involving a Minor, felonies of the second degree, and accepted the Prosecutor’s recommended 40-year prison sentence. Judge Cottrill followed the recommendation and imposed the sentence at the conclusion of the hearing.
Details of the Case:
On December 4th, 2025, law enforcement was dispatched to a local business regarding a report that an adult male, Joseph Tice, was attempting to meet with a 12-year-old female for sexual reasons.
After arriving on scene, Patrolman Traub of the Zanesville Police Department met with the caller who had been posing as a 12-year-old-girl and talking with Joseph Tice on Facebook Messenger. The caller was part of a private group who tries to “catch” child predators by pretending to be underage. Under Ohio law it is not a crime for someone to meet an adult pretending to be a child unless the person pretending to be a child is a law enforcement officer engaging in an investigation.
Ptl. Traub spoke with Tice about why he was called to the scene. During this conversation Tice admitted to being at the scene in hopes of meeting a 12-year-old girl but he only wanted to watch a movie and eat. After further questioning by Ptl. Traub, Tice admitted he may have some images of children on his phone.
Det. Chris Andrews of the Zanesville Police Department was able to view Tice’s phone and did confirm it contained child sexual abuse material. During an interview with Det. Andrews, Tice admitted to having more child sexual abuse images on devices kept at his home. A search warrant was executed at Tice’s home where additional images were discovered on computers and hard drives.
Muskingum County Prosecutor Ron Welch stated, “Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is not “just pictures” and anyone referring to CSAM that way lacks an understanding of the harm caused to the children. The pictures and videos are the living images of children being raped, exploited and traumatized. Our office is committed to obtaining significant and lengthy sentences whenever the facts and circumstances allow.”
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