Man accused of grabbing 6-year-old girl in Hamilton facing more charges

A Hamilton man already charged with multiple crimes for allegedly grabbing a 6-year-old girl as she took the trash to the curb outside her family’s home has been indicted again on more serious offenses.

Deric Nicholas McPherson, 33, was arrested early Aug. 24 and booked into the Butler County Jail on charges of abduction and gross sexual imposition, both third-degree felonies. He was indicted three days later by a Butler County grand jury on those two charges in addition to unlawful restraint, a misdemeanor.

The case was taken directly to a grand jury. Prosecutors had indicated it was possible additional charges could be issued in a superseding indictment if further evidence is presented to the grand jury, and that’s what happened Wednesday.

McPherson is now facing a kidnapping charge, a first-degree felony, in addition to the other charges, according to the superseding grand jury indictment.

McPherson is being held in the Butler County Jail in lieu of a $75,000 cash or surety bond set by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Oster Jr. He is scheduled to be back in court Sept. 12 for a pre-trial hearing.

The girl escaped by screaming and running, which was captured by the family’s doorbell camera.

According to the Hamilton police report, on Aug. 23, McPherson was walking past the girl on East Avenue when he bent down and grabbed her buttocks. The girl attempted to move away and he then grabbed her wrist “alongside the sidewalk.”

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