Motz was booked into the jail Dec. 26 by probation officials after admitting to downloading a large amount of pornography on his cellphone.
“I’ve been making enormous progress,” Motz said during a Jan. 3 hearing. “I don’t know what the reason was, I got off track.”
Judge Donald Oda II appointed a lawyer to represent Motz at Wednesday’s hearing but ordered Motz held until the hearing, despite his appeals.
RELATED: Difficult balance between protecting sex assault victims and dealing with sex offenders
Motz said he would have begun job training except for the holidays and his incarceration and suggested the holiday season also caused him to violate the terms of his release.
He urged the judge to release him to his family and suggested he could do community service. He said he was subject to threats and harassment in the jail.
“This is a tough case to figure out where we are headed,” Oda said.
Oda said that on Wednesday he could release Motz to the same home where he was staying, less than two miles from the victim in Morrow, with additional conditions.
Alternately the judge said he could go the “facility route,” referring to in-patient or minimum security facilities - or send Motz to prison.
MORE: Despite Ohio law, sex offenders living next to schools
In November, Oda declined to change the terms of Motz’s release since completing an in-patient treatment program, despite the appeals of the woman he sexually assaulted in July 2017 as she ran on the multi-use trail along the Little Miami River.
“This is in my face every day of my life,” the victim said during the hearing. “For me to go anywhere, I have to go by where he lives.”
“It’s a constant reminder of the sexual assault.”
During the assault, the victim, who was using the trail to practice for a triathlon, heard a “guttural sound” and was grabbed by Motz, who lunged from the brush, pants down. She was able to break free and run back to her car.
RELATED: Sex offender avoid prison for attack on trail jogger
“I am sorry,” he reportedly said after she escaped him.
Motz was arrested three months later and served 119 days in jail while awaiting trial. In February, he pleaded guilty to gross sexual imposition and faced up to 18 months in prison.
Instead, Oda sentenced him to complete an in-patient treatment program and electronic monitoring after returning to the community and being designated a Tier II sex offender.
Oda said he hoped Motz could learn to control his behavior rather than coming out of prison “worse than when you went in.”
MORE: The sex offender next door investigation
Motz’s lawyer argued that a forensic evaluation showed Motz had mental problems best handled through therapy sessions attended while on probation.
The victim said she was was skeptical about Motz’s job search and predicted Oda would allow Motz to remain the community.
“My expectation (sadly), is he will be released and returned to the residence he was residing in, but will have more restrictions. I can’t imagine what those could be that will make any difference,” she said in an email.
The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday in Oda’s court.
About the Author
