The trial for a Macedonia man indicted on nearly two dozen child sex crime charges is scheduled to begin next week after he backed out of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Bill Lupica was expected to take the plea deal Friday morning, but the Summit County Prosecutor's Office said Friday afternoon that he has backed out of it and will instead head to trial next Wednesday.
Lupica was arrested in May at his home on Apache Run, which neighbors say doubled as a childcare service.
In May, the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to News 5 there was a secret indictment in the case against Lupica amounting to 21 counts.
Those charges include rape, pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person, illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material and gross sexual imposition.
In June, Lupica appeared in court for the first time by video, where he entered a plea of not guilty.
The prosecutor told the judge the rape counts involved multiple children under the age of five and that there was a large number of images of children, both nude and in sex acts, found on Lupica’s phone.
“He not only merely possessed these, but he was the individual who photographed those children in those states. And during the investigation, it was determined there were secret cameras throughout the house that were utilized for this purpose,” said Jonathan Baumoel, prosecutor for Summit County.
Neighbors said his wife runs a childcare service at the house with a backyard full of toys and a pool.
"He's the helper,” said one woman.
Some types of childcare must be regulated in the state of Ohio. However, the Department of Job and Family Services does not show a licensed provider at the Apache Run address.
Watch our report from June when graphic details about the case were revealed:
