ZANESVILLE – A former Zanesville man who recently moved to Phoenix, Arizona, is back in Muskingum County to face 18 counts of pornography and sex crimes involving minors in two separate cases.

Nathen M. McPeak, 20, was indicted and arrested in July on 12 counts in his first case. The dates of the offense were between May 2023 and May 2024, involving a victim between the ages of 13 and 14, the indictment states.

He was charged with dissemination of material harmful to minors, a fifth-degree felony; one count of trespassing, a fifth-degree felony; one count of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony; one count of gross sexual assault; five counts of obscenity involving a minor or impaired person, second-degree felonies; and three counts of sexually oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person, also second-degree felonies.

McPeak’s second indictment involved a second minor victim, who was reportedly around 14 years old at the time of the May crimes. McPeak was indicted on six other charges: two counts of tampering with evidence, third-degree felonies; two counts of sexual assault, third-degree felonies; and two counts of fourth-degree misdemeanor unlawful sexual conduct.

He initially pleaded not guilty to both counts in July, but changed his plea to guilty on six counts in September as part of plea deals. Those charges were dissemination of material harmful to minors, obscenity, gross sexual solicitation, tampering with evidence and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct. A total of 12 charges were dismissed.

McPeak used the social media app Snapchat to interact with one of the victims, where they exchanged explicit photos. They later met in person and had sex, according to a news release from the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office.

While investigating the first case, a Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office detective discovered the second victim. McPeak engaged in a similar pattern, exchanging photos and inappropriately touching the second victim, the release said.

Common Pleas Judge Kelly Cottrill sentenced McPeak to four years in prison. The maximum he could have received was 16 years.

McPeak will now register as a Tier II sex offender for 25 years. He was represented by attorney Keith Edwards of Columbus. The Muskingum County District Attorney’s Office was represented by Assistant District Attorney Michael Hughes.

Shawn Digity is a reporter for the Zanesville Times Recorder. He can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on the Zanesville Times Recorder: Prosecutors: Sex offender used Snapchat to send messages to minor victim