A man who transported a missing 16-year-old girl he met online from Ohio to Marion County with the intention of having sex with her has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber handed out the 11-year sentence to 32-year-old Thomas Allen Ebersole. Earlier this year, Ebersole pleaded guilty to transporting a minor with the intent to engage in sexual activity.
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.
In a media release in January 2024, MCSO stated that the investigation revealed that this was Ebersole’s home address, and he had also accessed his World of Warcraft account at the location.
Law enforcement officers responded to the Dunnellon residence 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 MCSO’s arrest 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. She told investigators that she never left the home during the week she had been missing.
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 remained in custody until his sentencing.
Upon completion of his 11-year prison sentence, Ebersole will be required to register as a sex offender.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and Lima (Ohio) Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Nowalk Watson.
Additionally, this case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.