James Schindler

JAMES SCHINDLER CASE

Sensitive Content Disclaimer: This article contains sensitive subject matter that some readers may find disturbing or upsetting. Reader discretion is advised.

**The names of the victim’s in this story have been changed to protect their identities.**

A Mother’s Horror

Maggie, age seven, and her sister Lisa, age three, had just returned home from a weekend visit with their father, James Schindler. Their mother was giving Maggie her morning bath when she noticed a strong odor coming from her daughter’s underwear. Upon further investigation, she noticed a sticky substance in Maggie’s underwear. During the bath, she also observed a swollen bump on Maggie’s thigh. Thinking her daughter had an infection, Maggie’s mother called the pediatrician the following morning. After hearing the details, the pediatrician referred Maggie’s mother to the Alpha Clinic, a children’s sexual abuse center.

Upon arrival at the clinic, Maggie was taken into a room where she endured a painful examination. Maggie’s mother was forbidden from being in the room during the procedure, so Maggie suffered alone. The clinic found trauma to Maggie’s vaginal and rectal areas and determined she had been raped.

A few days later, Lisa was taken to the clinic for her examination. Staff were unable to complete the exam because Lisa curled up into a fetal position and regressed. This behavior represents a profound involuntary coping mechanism triggered by anxiety, stress, or a perceived threat to physical safety, and can be a sign of sexual abuse.

The girls continued with their regular weekly visits with their father; the court ordered that those visits be supervised by James Schindler’s parents.

The day after the girls’ first supervised visit with their father, their mother took them for a previously scheduled follow-up visit at the clinic. Medical staff discovered Maggie had additional damage and tearing, and Lisa had a red vaginal area with a rash. The court halted the children’s visitation with James Schindler as a result of the new injuries.

Horrific crimes revealed

Schindler admitted during a lie detector test that he was watching a female sunbather while sitting at his desk. Maggie, who was then four years old, approached him, rested her head on his lap, and placed her mouth on the tip of Schindler’s erect penis, which was protruding from one of the leg holes of his shorts.

Maggie told detectives that Schindler engaged in sexual intercourse with her when she was four to seven years old. She estimates this happened approximately 20 times.

As the investigation continued, Maggie was referred to Sharon Borrer, who was a children’s mental health therapist. Borrer treated Maggie, and they discussed the allegations she had made against her father. Maggie also confided in a teacher at her school. During a body awareness class, the teacher noticed Maggie had become quiet and withdrawn. She brought Maggie into her office, and Maggie made statements indicating her father was sexually abusing her.

Lisa also disclosed bits and pieces about her abuse in the months following Maggie’s accusations. She described in detail a game she would play with her daddy. They called it the “BABY GAME”, where he would kiss her private parts and then she would do the same to him. She said she would drink from daddy’s “pee-pee bottle.”

In another incident, Lisa described a disturbing scene at her father’s house. Lisa stated that she, Maggie, and her father’s girlfriend’s young daughter, as well as her father and his girlfriend, were there. They all got dressed up in costumes. Then they took off all their clothes and she “kissed daddy’s pee pee like a baby bottle and he kissed her pee pee.”

In November 1992, James Schindler was indicted for the rapes of his daughters. He posted a $10,000 bond and remained free.

More crimes while out on bond

While Schindler was out on bond, he got in a fight with his girlfriend, who was living with him. Schindler retrieved a gun and started shooting randomly inside the home. His girlfriend and her two young children, who were in the home, got in her car in an attempt to flee. Schindler got in his truck and tried to ram his girlfriend’s car. She swerved and hit a tree on the property. Schindler then fled the scene. Police found Schindler a short time later at a mental health facility.

Schindler was charged with three counts of felonious assault, domestic violence, and having a weapon under disability due to the fact that he was not allowed to possess a gun while free on bond. During the investigation, police found one Ruger .45 Colt revolver with six live rounds in the gun, one brown leather type belt holster with 18 live .45 Colt rounds, one unloaded Davis P-380 Automatic pistol, and one box of U.S.A. .380 Cal. with 44 live rounds. Schindler agreed to plead guilty to three counts of felonious assault and having a weapon under disability. Schindler received a prison sentence of three to ten years for these crimes.

Child rapist forces his daughter to testify

Rather than take a plea deal for the crimes against his daughters, Schindler opted for a jury trial, forcing his daughters to testify in court. Prior to the trial, it was determined that Lisa was incompetent to stand trial due to her young age. Maggie was ruled fully capable to testify against her father.

At trial, Sharon Borrer told jurors about her conversations with Maggie and detailed what Maggie had told her about her father’s abuse.

The prosecutor also called Polygrapher James Krakora, who interviewed Schindler. Krakora testified, “Mr. Schindler confessed to me that he did at one time, when Maggie was three or four years old or in that period of time, that he was sitting down, and he had a pair of shorts on, and he had an erection. Maggie was supposed to have been around his lap; she had put her mouth on his penis. He let her there, he said for a few second—a few minutes, and then he pushed her away.”

Maggie took the stand and told jurors what her father did to her. Regarding the rape, she testified that her father would carry her into his room and raped her. Maggie’s testimony below clearly established that Schindler had engaged in sexual intercourse with her:


Q. “Did your dad ever touch your vagina with his penis?” 


A. “Yes.”

Q. “When he did that, how did it feel?”

A. “It didn’t feel so good.”

Q. “Did it hurt”

A. “Yes.”

Q. “Can you tell us what he did with his penis and your vagina?”

A. “He put his penis inside of me.”

Schindler testified on his own behalf. His recollection of the events differed slightly from Krakora’s. He admitted that Maggie had placed her mouth on his penis, but he claimed that he immediately admonished her to stop. He denied that he raped Maggie.

Guilty Verdict Leads To Appeal

A jury found James Schindler guilty of both rape counts with force specifications. He was sentenced to ten years to life for each rape count count and the sentences were ordered to run concurrently (at the same time). The rape sentences were ordered to run consecutively (back to back) with Schindler’s earlier sentence for the incident with his girlfriend, resulting in a total sentence of 13 years to life.

Schinder was adjudicated a Tier III sex offender, the state’s most severe sex offender classification, carrying lifetime registration and strict community notification requirements.

Schindler appealed his rape convictions. He attempted to discredit Ms. Borrer’s’ testimony. He claimed that while the state did provide sufficient evidence of the sexual abuse, he did not do it. His rape convictions were ultimately upheld by the Ninth District Court of Appeals.

Schindler did manage to get the force specification removed regarding the sunbather incident. According to the appeals court, “Construing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, the record does not show that Schindler physically restrained Maggie, threatened her, or otherwise coerced her into the act.”

The removal of the force specification had no impact on Schindler’s sentence.

Questionable Parole Records

According to parole board decision sheets for 31 years, Schindler denied his crimes, had zero remorse, and had difficulty discussing why he committed his crimes. He had completed “some” risk-relevant programming, refused to take classes to address his criminal behavior, was deemed a high risk to reoffend, and was noted to be a threat to society. The parole board voted 6-0 to keep Schindler in prison in 2021 and 5-0 in 2022 and 2024.

The documents in the last two years detail a completely different story that we find implausible. The Ohio Parole Board wants us to believe Schindler has made some miraculous turnaround in the last two years, has completed all necessary programming, and has taken responsibility for his crimes. The July 2026 records state, “Mr. Schindler has served over thirty-two (32) years for these offenses. His case is aggravated by the fact that he committed other offenses while being indicted for the rape of his daughter. He has completed risk-relevant programming to abate his risk of re-offending and has a good release plan. After weighing all the suitability factors, the release of Mr. Schindler to parole is appropriate at this time.” The board voted 5-3 to grant tentative parole to Schindler. The victims have been granted a Full Board Parole Hearing to contest the Ohio Parole Board’s decision.

We have obtained Schindler’s Institution summary detailing his classes in an attempt to understand the vote to parole him.

In the last 19 years, Schindler has taken a total of 18 classes. 11 of those classes have the information redacted. Normally, the redactions involve substance abuse and mental health classes. We do know he was terminated from one of those classes. The thing we find odd is that they redacted the class completion dates. There is nothing confidential about class completion dates, so we have no idea the motive behind hiding this information. These dates are critical, as any classes prior to 2025 obviously did not help rehabilitate Schindler based on his decision sheets. We find it highly unlikely that Schindler took all 11 classes in the last two years considering he took only seven verifiable classes in the prior 17 years.

Of the seven classes remaining, only two addressed his criminal behavior. He took a class called “Thinking for a Change” in 2019. That class obviously did not work because, as of 2024, the decision sheets clearly state he was still denying his crimes and remained a public safety risk. Schindler took a victim’s awareness class in 2007, yet 19 years later, he still has not written and submitted an apology letter or offered any type of apology to his daughter.

There is no indication that he has taken any sex offender treatment classes.

Release Plan Concerns

The parole board states Schindler has “a good release plan.” Those options are as follows.

His mother

Schindler’s mother is 87 years old. We believe it would be a challenge for any 87-year-old to be responsible for monitoring a 61-year old Tier III sex offender convicted of multiple rape counts against a child.

In addition, Schindler has siblings who have children and some of those children have children. We would be shocked if any 87-year-old woman would refuse to see her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, especially during the holidays, to accommodate Schindler. Also, keep in mind Schindler’s mother was responsible for supervising Schindler during a visit with his daughters, where he sexually abused them and caused additional injuries.

This parole location would also put Schindler in the exact same area where his victims reside, meaning they could randomly run into their rapist in places such as the grocery store or the gas station.

Volunteers of America (Halfway House) Toledo, Ohio.

This halfway house is in the middle of a residential area. A short distance away from three parks and a daycare. The online reviews regarding this facility are highly concerning. Below are a two of the most recent reviews.

• “Case Managers are on power trips and are very incompetent. The drugs around the place is super bad.”
• “Drug use is crazy, reaaaaaaaally crazy. Bathrooms are always super dirty. Smoking in the bathrooms and shower areas. Staff is just too laid back and unless they’re being inspected they don’t seem to care or do much to help you properly reintegrate into the community.”

Volunteers of America (Halfway House) Mansfield, Ohio

Mansfield has been referred to as “Danger City” because of its historically high crime rates and struggles with economic decline and drug use. The city has reported crime rates significantly higher than state and national averages. Mansfield frequently ranks in the top 10 most dangerous cities in Ohio based on per-capita FBI crime data, driven largely by its combination of property crime and localized violent offenses and robberies relative to its mid-sized population.ome neighborhood crime rankings list Mansfield among the top ten most dangerous cities.

The Ohio Parole Board may define these as “good” options however, we believe none of these locations are the optimal place for any inmate, let alone a child rapist with a tier III sex offender classification.

No Parole

James Schindler is a monster. He raped both his young daughters. He got a huge break when his youngest daughter was ruled too young to testify. Rather than take a plea deal, he opted for a jury trial, forcing his nine-year-old daughter to testify and relive her trauma. There is no indication that Schindler has any remorse for his actions, and his rehabilitation efforts are highly questionable based on the Ohio Parole Board records.

Releasing James Schindler at any point would be a complete injustice to his daughters and would diminish his cruelty to them. Granting him parole also creates a tremendous risk to society, especially young children. To further the interests of justice and protect society, we urge the Ohio Parole Board to reverse the parole of James Schindler and give him at least a five-year continuance until his next hearing.