Ohio School Computer Tech Accused of Trying to Buy Children for Sexual Torture

GREEN, Ohio – An Ohio school computer technician with two stepchildren and a backyard swimming pool has been accused of trying to hire a woman in Miami to let him nearly drown her two daughters for his sexual pleasure.

The Green local school district in suburban Akron moved quickly to cut ties to Jeff Doland, 45, of Uniontown, following his arrest after authorities said he flew to Miami believing he was going to meet a mother who would let him "dunk" her 9- and 12-year-old daughters for $550.

Superintendent Wade Lucas said the district shut down Doland's access to district information late Wednesday as the arrest was announced by the Florida attorney general. "It is my understanding that he had no direct contact with children," Lucas said.

Doland was Green's director of technology until April, when he accepted a job with a computer company that provides technology services to the district on a contract basis. He had an office in Green Intermediate School.

Doland was jailed to await an Aug. 15 court hearing on charges that he offered to pay for the dunking during an online conversation with a Secret Service agent who had posed as a mother in an Internet chat room. After arriving in Miami on Wednesday, Doland described to another undercover agent what his intentions were, including binding the young girls underwater, authorities said.

Doland was charged with having computer pornography and promoting a sexual performance with a child. His bond initially was set at $12,500 but was raised to $1 million on Thursday at the request of a prosecutor.

Doland, appearing Thursday before Judge Fred Seraphin, asked about pleading guilty. The judge said such a plea to serious charges wasn't allowed at that stage of the legal proceedings against Doland.

No defense attorney for him was listed on jail records Thursday and no family member could be reached for comment. Messages seeking comment were left for him at jail offices and at his home, where officers with a search warrant seized computer equipment on Wednesday.

Florida authorities said that, in Internet chat-room conversations that began in April, Doland told the agent that "dunking" was his form of sexual gratification, and he claimed that he "liked watching the bubbles." He wanted to dunk the girls and then lift them from the water when they were unconscious, authorities said.