The charges against violinist Odin Rathnam also include multiple accounts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of ten
A former concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony and faculty member at Cleveland State University has been arrested with charges of rape and sexual abuse of a child under the age of ten, between 2008 and 2019.
Odin J. Rathnam, aged 58, of Sheffield Lake, OH, was arrested at his residence by local Ohio police on a warrant issued by the Lower Paxton Bureau of Police on 11 July 2024.
The events of rape and other sexual offences occurred in multiple locations throughout Dauphin County and other areas of Pennsylvania between 2008 and 2019. The alleged crimes started when the victim was six years old.
The victim reported the abuse in May 2024. Multiple conversations were legally recorded between Rathnam and the victim during the course of the investigation. The victim claimed that she suffered injuries from the sexual attacks that are not fully healed and has ongoing medical issues, according to PennLive.
According to Fox8, Rathnam was taken from the Lorian County Jail to Harrisburg, PA, where he is locked up without bail.
Rathnam trained at the Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School, where he studied with Sally Thomas and Dorothy DeLay. He gave pedagogy classes at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on violin studies. He served as concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony from 1991 to 2012.
Cleveland State University, where Rathnam worked as a violin teacher, issued a statement to Fox8:
’Cleveland State University has been made aware by authorities in Pennsylvania of an investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Odin Rathnam in Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio. According to law enforcement, these allegations do not involve a CSU student, nor did the alleged incidents happen on CSU’s campus.’
The university confirmed that Rathnam was no longer employed at the institution. ’The University will fully cooperate as needed with authorities in Pennsylvania and Sheffield Lake as they investigate,’ the statement concluded.
Read: Violin professor charged with sexual assault
Read: Cleveland concertmaster fired following sexual misconduct investigation
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