MANSFIELD — The trial of a 28-year-old man indicted on 31 counts of child pornography it was postponed indefinitely to Richland County Common Pleas Court.

Bryce Witchey of Mansfield waived his right to a speedy trial and his lawyer asked for more time to prepare.

Additionally, a court-ordered forensic psychiatric evaluation was not completed in the case by Criminalistics Center Sector 5.

Witchey, arrested June 14 by Mansfield police after a woman claimed he was talking to her on social media and seeking sex with her 8-year-old daughter, remains in the Richland County Jail on $500,000 bond .

A jury trial was scheduled for Sept. 5, but Judge Brent Robinson suspended it pending a forensic evaluation. A second court date was scheduled for Oct. 14, but was continued by the defendant when attorney Rolf Whitney filed a motion for a continuance.

Witchey, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, waived his right to a speedy trial on Oct. 21.

Originally charged with attempted burglary in June, Witchey was indicted in August on 30 additional charges, mostly based on several electronic devices found at his South Side home.

The electronic devices were originally seized in April from Witchey’s home, two months before he was arrested and accused of trying to use the internet to seek sex with an 8-year-old girl.

Nearly half of the child pornography charges against Witchey date from the April 2023 footage, according to an indictment returned in August by a Richland County grand jury.

During Witchey’s trial in Common Pleas Court, prosecutor Jodie Schumacher told Magistrate Jill Cochran that several electronic devices were recovered from Witchey’s home, alerting the court if the defendant successfully posted bail and was released.

“I would let the court know that his (electronic) devices were seized in April,” the prosecutor said, a clear indication that an investigation into Witchey was underway before his arrest in June.

“We returned to the residence in June and seized additional electronic devices.

“We found out that there were additional electronic devices on the way (to Witchey) that had just been bought. So I think it’s important for the court to be aware that he has no contact or access to those (new devices),” Schumacher said in August.

According to the indictment, 14 counts of “unlawful use of a minor or disabled person in nudity-oriented material or performances” are dated April 7, 2023. An indictment on the same charge is dated February 19, 2024.

All 15 are second-degree felonies, each carrying a prison sentence of two to eight years if convicted.

He is also charged with 15 counts of “possessing or viewing any material or performance showing a minor or disabled person other than the child or under the supervision of the person in a state of nudity, unless the person knows that the parents, the guardian of the minor or the affected person. , or the custodian has consented in writing to the photographing or use of the minor or disabled person in a state of nudity and to the manner in which the material or performance is used or transferred.”

Those charges date back to April 18, 2024, and are fifth-degree felonies, each carrying a maximum of one year in prison. He was indicted for the same offense on an indictment dated June 13, 2024.

The attempted burglary is also from June 13, a fourth-degree felony with a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison.