A man who failed to show up for a 2023 court arraignment was returned from Indiana this week to face sex offense charges in Logan County.
Triston Sholty, 28, of South Bend, Ind., was originally indicted in early November 2023 for first-degree felony rape and fourth-degree felony gross sexual imposition. He failed to show up for his arraignment later that month and an arrest warrant was issued in early December 2023.
An investigation, started Nov. 30, 2019, led to the indictment. Sholty was 23 at the time and came to Ohio to visit a West Mansfield woman who was 19, according to Logan County Sheriff reports.
They had known each other through online gaming platforms for about four years.
Sholty arrived Nov. 30, 2019, and took the victim to Springfield for dinner. He threatened to fake propose to her unless she agreed to consume shots of alcohol with him in his car.
The victim told deputies the suspect sexually assaulted and forced her into sexual acts while driving back to West Mansfield.
It took nearly three years to locate him to interview him and collect more evidence. An indictment was handed up 11 months later.
Online records show he was lodged Aug. 25, 2025, on a holder for an outside agency in St. Joseph County (Indiana) Jail in South Bend, Ind.
Wednesday, he was extradited from Indiana and handed over to deputies who transported him here.
He was arraigned Friday before Logan County Common Pleas Court Judge Kevin Braig, who ordered the defendant held on a $100,000 bond.
A jury trial has been set for Nov. 24 and 25.
