A 32-year-old man who transported a missing 16-year-old girl he met online from Ohio to Marion County in order to have sex with her is facing life in prison, with authorities saying they were able to locate the girl after she logged onto her video game profile from the man’s house.
On Wednesday, January 8, 2025, U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Thomas Allen Ebersole, 32, has entered a guilty plea.
According to court records, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office detective was contacted by a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in January of 2024. The agent requested assistance with locating a missing 16-year-old girl from Ohio.
An investigation was launched by MCSO, and detectives determined that the teen victim’s account for World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing game, had recently been accessed at a home in the 2300 block of SW Shorewood Drive in Dunnellon.
“Further investigation revealed that this was Thomas Ebersole’s home address, and his World of Warcraft account was also accessed at the location,” said MCSO in a media release.
Law enforcement responded to the residence in Dunnellon and made contact with Ebersole at the front door. He initially denied knowing the victim, though he eventually went into the home and returned to the doorway with the victim, according to the report.
After being read his Miranda rights, Ebersole admitted to driving his vehicle to Ohio on December 28, 2023, to pick up the victim. He initially claimed that he was “only friends’” with the victim, though the report stated that he later admitted to having a romantic relationship with her.
Ebersole admitted that he had used the internet-based application Discord to communicate with the victim via video calls and text messages. An MCSO detective was able to view the messages between Ebersole and the victim on Discord, and the report stated that Ebersole referred to the victim by several pet names that included “darlin,” “babygirl,” “beautiful,” “babe,” and “little wolf.”
During the post-Miranda interview, Ebersole told investigators that he had intended on hiding the victim in his home, with plans to eventually marry her. MCSO stated that the messages between Ebersole and the victim on Discord “further outlined his plans to meet the victim in Ohio and engage in sexual activity despite knowing that he was committing a crime.”
The victim stayed in Ebersole’s home until January 3, 2024, when law enforcement identified her location and removed her from the residence. DNA testing was conducted, which confirmed that Ebersole had engaged in sexual activity with the victim.
Ebersole was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail on January 3, 2024, and he was released eight days later. Jail records show that on August 8, 2024, he was once again booked into the facility on a federal hold, where he remains in custody.
A sentencing date for Ebersole has not yet been scheduled. He faces a minimum sentence of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and Lima (Ohio) Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Nowalk Watson.