PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — A Portsmouth attorney has been indicted on 18 felony charges related to human trafficking.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Scioto County Prosecutor Shane Tieman announced the indictment against 74-year-old attorney Michael Mearan.
The charges come from a span between 2003 and 2018 and involved six victims in southern Ohio.
Mearan is charged with nine counts of promoting prostitution, five counts of compelling prostitution, three counts of trafficking in persons and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Yost said if convicted, Mearan could face more than 70 years in prison.
Mearan is in custody at the Scioto County Jail.
