§ 137.01 (2919.22) ENDANGERING CHILDREN.
   (A)   No person, who is the parent, guardian, custodian, person having custody or control, or person in loco parentis of a child under 18 years of age or a mentally or physically disabled child under 21 years of age, shall create a substantial risk to the health or safety of the child, by violating a duty of care, protection, or support. It is not a violation of a duty of care, protection, or support under this division when the parent, guardian, custodian, or person having custody or control of a child treats the physical or mental illness or disability of the child by spiritual means through prayer alone, in accordance with the tenets of a recognized religious body.
   (B)   No person shall do any of the following to a child under 18 years of age or a mentally or physically disabled child under 21 years of age:
      (1)   Abuse the child;
      (2)   Torture or cruelly abuse the child;
      (3)   Administer corporal punishment or other physical disciplinary measure, or physically restrain the child in a cruel manner or for a prolonged period, which punishment, discipline or restraint is excessive under the circumstances and creates a substantial risk of serious physical harm to the child;
      (4)   Repeatedly administer unwarranted disciplinary measures to the child when there is a substantial risk that such conduct, if continued, will seriously impair or retard the child's mental health or development;
      (5)   Entice, coerce, permit, encourage, compel, hire, employ, use, or allow the child to act, model, or in any other way participate in, or be photographed for, the production, presentation, dissemination, or advertisement of any material or performance that the offender knows or reasonably should know is obscene, is sexually oriented matter, or is nudity-oriented matter;
      (6)   Allow the child to be on the same parcel of real property and within 100 feet of, or, in the case of more than one housing unit on the same parcel of real property, in the same housing unit and within 100 feet of, any act in violation of R.C. § 2925.04 or 2925.041 when the person knows that the act is occurring, whether or not any person is prosecuted for or convicted of the violation of R.C. § 2925.04 or 2925.041 that is the basis of the violation of this division.
   (C)   (1)   No person shall operate a vehicle, as defined by R.C. § 4511.01, within the municipality and in violation of R.C. § 4511.19(A), or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance, when one or more children under 18 years of age are in the vehicle. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person may be convicted at the same trial or proceeding of a violation of this division and a violation of R.C. § 4511.19(A), or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance, that constitutes the basis of the charge of the violation of this division. For purposes of R.C. 4511.191 through 4511.197 and all related provisions of law, a person arrested for a violation of this division shall be considered to be under arrest for operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them or for operating a vehicle with a prohibited concentration of alcohol, a controlled substance, or a metabolite of a controlled substance in the whole blood, blood serum or plasma, breath, or urine.
      (2)   As used in division (C)(1) of this section:
         CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE has the same meaning as in R.C. § 3719.01.
         VEHICLE has the same meanings as in R.C. § 4511.01.
   (D)   (1)   Division (B)(5) of this section does not apply to any material or performance that is produced, presented, or disseminated for a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, religious, governmental, judicial, or other proper purpose, by or to a physician, psychologist, sociologist, scientist, teacher, person pursuing bona fide studies or research, librarian, member of the clergy, prosecutor, judge, or other person having a proper interest in the material or performance.
      (2)   Mistake of age is not a defense to a charge under division (B)(5) or (6) of this section.
      (3)   In a prosecution under division (B)(5) of this section, the trier of fact may infer that an actor, model, or participant in the material or performance involved is a juvenile if the material or performance, through its title, text, visual representation, or otherwise, represents or depicts the actor, model, or participant as a juvenile.
      (4)   As used in this division and division (B)(5) of this section:
         (a)   MATERIAL, PERFORMANCE, OBSCENE and SEXUAL ACTIVITY have the same meaning as in R.C. § 2907.01.
         (b)   NUDITY-ORIENTED MATTER means any material or performance that shows a minor in a state of nudity and that, taken as a whole by the average person applying contemporary community standards, appeals to prurient interest.
         (c)   SEXUALLY ORIENTED MATTER means any material or performance that shows a minor participating or engaging in sexual activity, masturbation, or bestiality.
   (E)   Whoever violates this section is guilty of endangering children.
      (1)   If the offender violates division (A) or (B)(1) of this section, endangering children is one of the following:
         (a)   Except as otherwise provided in division (E)(1)(b), (E)(1)(c) or (E)(1)(d), a misdemeanor of the first degree.
         (b)   If the offender previously has been convicted of an offense under this section or a substantially equivalent state law or municipal ordinance, or of any offense involving neglect, abandonment, or contributing to the delinquency of or physical abuse of a child, except as otherwise provided in division (E)(1)(c) or (E)(1)(d) of this section, endangering children is a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate state law.
         (c)   If the violation is a violation of division (A) of this section and results in serious physical harm to the child involved, endangering children is a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate state law.
         (d)   If the violation is a violation of division (B)(1) of this section and results in serious physical harm to the child involved, endangering children is a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate state law.
      (2)   If the offender violates division (B)(2), (B)(3), (B)(4), (B)(5) or (B)(6) of this section, endangering children is a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate state law.
      (3)   If the offender violates division (C) of this section, the offender shall be punished as follows:
         (a)   Except as otherwise provided in division (E)(3)(b) or (E)(3)(c) endangering children in violation of division (C) of this section is a misdemeanor of the first degree.
         (b)   If the violation results in serious physical harm to the child involved or the offender previously has been convicted of a violation of this section or a substantially equivalent state law or municipal ordinance, or of any offense involving neglect, abandonment, or contributing to the delinquency of or physical abuse of a child, except as otherwise provided in division (E)(3)(c) of this section, endangering children in violation of division (C) of this section is a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate state law.
         (c)   If the violation results in serious physical harm to the child involved and if the offender previously has been convicted of a violation of this section, R.C. §§ 2903.06, 2903.08, 2919.22(C) or former R.C. § 2903.07 as it existed prior to March 23, 2000, or R.C. § 2903.04 in a case in which the offender was subject to the sanctions described in division (D) of that section, endangering children in violation of division (C) of this section is a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate state law.
         (d)   In addition to any term of imprisonment, fine, or other sentence, penalty, or sanction it imposes upon the offender pursuant to divisions (E)(3)(a), (E)(3)(b), or (E)(3)(c) of this section or pursuant to any other provisions of law, and in addition to any suspension of the offender’s driver’s license or commercial driver’s license or permit or nonresident operating privilege under R.C. Chapter 4506, 4509, 4510, or 4511, or any other provision of law, the court also may impose upon the offender a class seven suspension of the offender’s driver’s or commercial driver’s license or permit or nonresident operating privilege from the range specified in R.C. § 4510.02(A)(7).
         (e)   In addition to any term of imprisonment, fine, or other sentence, penalty, or sanction imposed upon the offender pursuant to division (E)(3)(a), (E)(3)(b), (E)(3)(c), or (E)(3)(d) of this section or pursuant to any other provision of law for the violation of division (C) of this section, if as part of the same trial or proceeding the offender also is convicted of or pleads guilty to a separate charge charging the violation of R.C. § 4511.19(A), or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance, that was the basis of the charge of the violation of division (C) of this section, the offender also shall be sentenced, in accordance with R.C. § 4511.19, or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance, for that violation of R.C. 4511.19(A), or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance.
   (F)   (1)   (a)   A court may require an offender to perform not more than two hundred hours of supervised community service work under the authority of an agency, subdivision, or charitable organization. The requirement shall be part of the community control sanction or sentence of the offender, and the court shall impose the community service in accordance with and subject to divisions (F)(1)(a) and (b) of this section. The court may require an offender whom it requires to perform supervised community service work as part of the offender's community control sanction or sentence to pay the court a reasonable fee to cover the costs of the offender’s participation in the work, including, but not limited to, the costs of procuring a policy or policies of liability insurance to cover the period during which the offender will perform the work. If the court requires the offender to perform supervised community service work as part of the offender's community control sanction or sentence, the court shall do so in accordance with the following limitations and criteria:
            1.   The court shall require that the community service work be performed after completion of the term of imprisonment imposed upon the offender for the violation of division (C) of this section, if applicable.
            2.   The supervised community service work shall be subject to the limitations set forth in R.C. § 2951.02(B)(1), (2) and (3).
            3.   The community service work shall be supervised in the manner described in R.C. § 2951.02(B)(4) by an official or person with the qualifications described in that division. The official or person periodically shall report in writing to the court concerning the conduct of the offender in performing the work
            4.   The court shall inform the offender in writing that if the offender does not adequately perform, as determined by the court, all of the required community service work, the court may order that the offender be committed to a jail or workhouse for a period of time that does not exceed the term of imprisonment that the court could have imposed upon the offender for the violation of division (C) of this section, reduced by the total amount of time that the offender actually was imprisoned under the sentence or term that was imposed upon the offender for that violation and by the total amount of time that the offender was confined for any reason arising out of the offense for which the offender was convicted and sentenced as described in R.C. §§ 2949.08 and 2967.191, and that, if the court orders that the offender be so committed, the court is authorized, but not required, to grant the offender credit upon the period of the commitment for the community service work that the offender adequately performed.
         (b)   If a court, pursuant to (F)(1)(a) this section, orders an offender to perform community service work as part of the offender's community control service or sentence and if the offender does not adequately perform all of the required community service work, as determined by the court, the court may order that the offender be committed to a jail or workhouse for a period of time that does not exceed the term of imprisonment that the court could have imposed upon the offender for the violation of division (C) of this section, reduced by the total amount of time that the offender actually was imprisoned under the sentence or term that was imposed upon the offender for that violation and by the total amount of time that the offender was confined for any reason arising out of the offense for which the offender was convicted and sentenced as described in R.C. §§ 2949.08 and 2967.191. The court may order that a person committed pursuant to this division shall receive hour-for-hour credit upon the period of the commitment for the community service work that the offender adequately performed. No commitment pursuant to this division shall exceed the period of the term of imprisonment that the sentencing court could have imposed upon the offender for the violation of division (C) of this section, reduced by the total amount of time that the offender actually was imprisoned under that sentence or term and by the total amount of time that the offender was confined for any reason arising out of the offense for which the offender was convicted and sentenced as described in R.C. §§ 2949.08 and 2967.191.
      (2)   Division (F)(1) of this section does not limit or affect the authority of the court to suspend the sentence imposed upon a misdemeanor offender and place the offender under a community control sanction pursuant to R.C. § 2929.25, to require a misdemeanor or felony offender to perform supervised community service work in accordance with division R.C. § 2951.02(B), or to place a felony offender under a community control sanction.
   (G)   (1)   If a court suspends an offender's driver's or commercial driver's license or permit or nonresident operating privilege under division (E)(4)(d) of this section, the period of the suspension shall be consecutive to, and commence after, the period of suspension of the offender's driver's or commercial driver's license or permit or nonresident operating privilege that is imposed under R.C. Chs. 4506, 4509, 4510, or 4511 or under any other provision of law in relation to the violation of division (C) of this section that is the basis of the suspension under division (E)(4)(d) of this section or in relation to the violation of R.C. 4511.19(A) that is the basis for that violation of division (C) of this section.
      (2)   An offender is not entitled to request, and the court shall not grant to the offender, limited driving privileges if the offender's license, permit, or privilege has been suspended under division (E)(4)(d) of this section and the offender, within the preceding six years, has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to three or more violations of one or more of the following:
         (a)   Division (C) of this section;
         (b)   Any equivalent offense, as defined in R.C. § 4511.181.
   (H)   (1)   If a person violates division (C) of this section and if, at the time of the violation, there were two or more children under 18 years of age in the motor vehicle involved in the violation, the offender may be convicted of a violation of division (C) of this section for each of the children, but the court may sentence the offender for only one of the violations.
      (2)   (a)   If a person is convicted of or pleads guilty to a violation of division (C) of this section but the person is not also convicted of and does not also plead guilty to a separate charge of violating R.C. § 4511.19(A), or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance that was the basis of the charge of the violation of division (C) of this section, both of the following apply:
            1.   For purposes of the provisions of R.C. § 4511.19, or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance, that set forth the penalties and sanctions for a violation of R.C. § 4511.19(A), or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance, the conviction of or plea of guilty to the violation of division (C) of this section shall not constitute a violation of R.C. § 4511.19(A), or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance;
            2.   For purposes of any provision of law that refers to a conviction of or plea of guilty to a violation of division R.C. § 4511.19(A) and that is not described in division (H)(2)(a)1. of this section, the conviction of or plea of guilty to the violation of division (C) of this section shall constitute a conviction of or plea of guilty to a violation of R.C. § 4511.19(A), or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance.
         (b)   If a person is convicted of or pleads guilty to a violation of division (C) of this section and the person also is convicted of or pleads guilty to a separate charge of violating R.C. § 4511.19(A), or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance, that was the basis of the charge of the violation of division (C) of this section, the conviction of or plea of guilty to the violation of division (C) of this section shall not constitute, for purposes of any provision of law that refers to a conviction of or plea of guilty to a violation of R.C. § 4511.19(A) or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance, a conviction of or plea of guilty to a violation of R.C. § 4511.19(A) or a substantially equivalent municipal ordinance.
   (I)   As used in this section, COMMUNITY CONTROL SANCTION has the same meaning as in R.C. § 2929.01.
(R.C. § 2919.22) (Rev. eff. with 2006 S-8) (Ord. 79-1973, passed 12-19-73; Am. Ord. 59-1991, passed 9-4-91)