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Dante Berry accused of sexual abuse of minors

A Columbus man who pleaded guilty a decade ago to distributing sexually oriented material involving minors and was not sentenced to prison has been rearrested for the same crime, Columbus police said in a news release Wednesday.

Dante M. Berry, 32, of Columbus' North Side, is accused of distributing sexual materials involving minors, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records. A joint investigation by the Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Columbus Police Department's Exploited Children Unit found that Berry possessed and distributed “numerous” videos and images of young children being sexually abused, police said.

Police said Berry was arrested without incident at his Oakland Park Avenue home.

In December 2014, Berry was charged with nine counts of distributing sexually oriented material involving minors, but pleaded guilty to two counts, according to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records.

Instead of a prison sentence, Franklin County District Court Judge Julie Lynch sentenced Berry to four years of home probation and required him to register as a Tier II sex offender, which means he must report in person to the county sheriff's office every 180 days for 25 years.

In May 2018, Berry was charged with two counts of failing to report his address change to authorities and two counts of tampering with records, court records show. Three of the charges were dropped, and he pleaded guilty to one count of failing to report his address change to authorities. He was sentenced to two years in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, followed by three years of post-release confinement, Common Pleas court records show.

According to court documents, Berry is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment on Thursday.

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@ShahidMeighan

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