COLUMBUS (OH)
WSYX-TV, ABC-6 [Columbus OH]
October 1, 2026
By Kierstin Lindkvist & WSYX Staff
What role did Scott Hartman hold at the Catholic Foundation?
When did the victim report the online relationship to school counselors?
Why was Scott Hartman arrested according to authorities?
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A Catholic Foundation executive was arrested Thursday after investigators accused him of engaging in a months-long online sexual relationship with a teenage girl, exchanging sexually explicit images with her and attempting to arrange an in-person sexual encounter.
Scott Hartman, 49, faces charges including grooming, pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and pandering obscenity involving a minor, according to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and court documents.
Hartman was arrested by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force after investigators executed a search warrant at his home.
The investigation began in April after a teenage victim reported to school counselors that she had been involved in an online relationship with Hartman, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Court documents say Hartman communicated with the girl through Instagram and TikTok from approximately November 2025 through April 2026, when she was 14 and 15 years old. Investigators say Hartman initiated contact and knew she was a juvenile and a freshman in high school.
During a May 11 forensic interview, the girl told investigators that after Hartman learned her actual age, her age became “kind of like a hush thing,” according to court documents.
Detectives said the relationship included sexually explicit video calls and the exchange of sexually explicit photographs and videos. Hartman allegedly maintained an album on his cellphone with the girl’s name as the album title and encouraged her to include her face in photographs she sent him.
On Feb. 10, Hartman allegedly acknowledged in a TikTok message that the girl was a minor. According to court documents, he told her his Instagram account had been disabled for violating community guidelines involving interactions with minors and said she was the only minor he communicated with.
Hartman then allegedly asked her to “please please delete our chat.” Investigators say he continued communicating with her and engaging in sexual communications after acknowledging she was a minor.
The court documents detail several exchanges in April in which investigators say Hartman received and viewed sexually explicit photographs and videos from the girl and responded with sexual comments. On April 16, the girl asked whether Hartman would meet her for sexual intercourse after she obtained her driver’s license, and investigators say Hartman agreed.
On April 18, Hartman allegedly told the girl, “you should be here and we could fool around in the storage unit.” Investigators say the conversation included discussion of physical sexual contact and intercourse.
Investigators also say Hartman attempted to arrange two meetings with the girl for sex.
“I think he wanted to make an arrangement that was more on his terms,” Detective Joe Smith, who a part of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, said. “One was for him to travel to where she’s at. He was a little apprehensive to do that, hopefully because of what he’s seeing in the news from the work that we are doing here in the ICAC, and the things that are that are popular around the country with people getting caught for being a child predator.”
We believe that he tried to get a hotel or did get a hotel, but obviously because of her age, she had an inability to travel down to meet him.
On April 20, investigators say Hartman again demonstrated that he knew the girl’s age was an obstacle to their relationship. Court documents say he wrote, “Unless you age really quickly or I pull a Benjamin Button idk how we get around all that,” followed by, “I mean you get why I can’t tell anyone abt us right?”
The Sheriff’s Office said one or more of Hartman’s alleged social media accounts were shut down and reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Investigators later extracted data from a cellphone and identified more than 100 pertinent items, including sexually explicit material and screenshots of conversations with an individual saved as “Daddy.” Records from Meta, Google and Verizon also connected the relevant social media accounts, email addresses and phone number to Hartman, according to court documents.
Hartman also allegedly tried to have the girl delete evidence and conceal her age, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The investigation and arrest unfolded in a residential neighborhood off Mainsail Drive, where neighbor Jake George said he saw sheriff’s deputies outside Hartman’s home Thursday morning.
“I saw at least one sheriff and there was somebody in a, actually I did see somebody in the suit and I thought that was kind of odd,” George said.
George, who recently became a father, said learning what investigators were looking into was upsetting because it happened so close to home.
“It is upsetting. That close to home kind of thing where you don’t think, it hard to explain,” George said. “I know I’m gonna have a hard time telling my wife that. She’s probably gonna be very, very upset to hear that.”
George said the case has also made him think about how he and his wife will handle social media as their daughter gets older.
“We’re both very gonna be staunch,” he said. “We’re gonna be (against) trying to hold off on the social media as long as possible, especially stuff like that because it just doesn’t seem like it’s healthy for a lot of young kids.”
Hartman was the senior vice president and chief development officer of the Catholic Foundation, a charitable and investment foundation supporting Catholic causes throughout the 23-county Diocese of Columbus.
The Diocese of Columbus shared the following statement:
On Thursday, October 1, 2026, Scott Hartman, a former employee of The Catholic Foundation, was arrested on charges regarding inappropriate conduct with a minor. Hartman’s position with the foundation immediately terminated. The Catholic Foundation takes the allegations seriously and is working in full cooperation with law enforcement. The Catholic Foundation, a foundation of the Catholic Diocese of Columbus, holds its employees to a high standard of conduct with regular and thorough background verification processes. Any violation, whether alleged or credible, is met with a swift response.
The Catholic Foundation said it will continue to work in full cooperation with law enforcement and offers its prayers to all those involved.
Hartman was taken into custody without incident. FCSO said at this time detectives do not believe there are other victims, but additional charges may be filed as the investigation continues.
by Kierstin Lindkvist & WSYX Staff