SANDUSKY, Ohio — Adventure Play owner, 42-year-old Robert Stein, has been charged with one felony count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, which is considered a sex crime under Ohio law.
Stein was arrested on Tuesday and released the same day on a $5,000 bond, according to the Erie County Jail.
The alleged victim in the case is 17 years old, according to Perkins Police Detective Joseph Rotuno, who is leading the investigation.
"It was probably a little over a year ago when the 17-year-old actually worked at that facility (Adventure Play)," Rotuno said.
Rotuno said the teen claimed to have never had any issues with Stein while she was an employee at Adventure Play, and that she didn't have private conversations with him until Jan. 26, when she posted a photo of herself to her Snapchat story.
"It basically had to do with some type of TikTok trend that was going around. Mr. Stein saw an opportunity to reach out, make a comment about that Snapchat story, and then it just kind of unfolded from there," Rotuno said.
Rotuno said the pair started sending nude photos and videos to one another through the social platform.
"Unfortunately, our minor fell victim and sent stuff to this adult, so that's kind of where things started off," he said Thursday.
The alleged victim reached out to an acquaintance who is a few years older and used to work as a manager at Adventure Play about the situation, Rotuno told me.
Rotuno said that the acquaintance then told a family member, which ultimately led to a police report being filed with Sandusky Police last month.
A Perkins police report dated Jan. 28 reveals the department was notified by Sandusky Police about a potential case within the Perkins jurisdiction.
Rotuno said the Perkins Police Department began investigating.
Part of the evidence collected, according to Rotuno, is pictures the teen took on her phone of her laptop showing her conversation and the content shared with Stein.
"On one of the images that was graphic in nature that the suspect had sent to her, she accidentally saved the image instead of deleting it. Anytime something is saved, screen recorded, it sends a notification to our suspect. Terrible for her, you know, not knowing what to do, probably worked out well for us only because at that point, the suspect then started reaching out to her, wanting to find out why she had saved it," Rotuno said.
Rotuno said Stein told the teen the entire conversation needed to be deleted because he could "get in trouble."
"Ultimately the suspect made an admission during that communication that he realized that he could get in trouble because of her age. He acknowledged it in a text message through Snapchat to the victim," Rotuno said.
The legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, so I asked Rotuno if that doesn't apply in cases like this one involving technology.
"Correct, so the age of consent is 16 in Ohio. That ultimately means that a 16-year-old could have sex consensually with anyone as long as there's not a four-year age gap difference or higher, so that person can't be any older than 20," said Rotuno. "Technically, a 16-year-old could have sex with an 18-year-old, but technically by law that 16 and 18-year-old can't exchange images like that and videos like that. We know there's that loophole that hasn't been filled yet."
As Stein was arrested on Tuesday, Rotuno said a search warrant on his home was executed. Officers took photos of the inside of his home, collected his cell phone, two other phones and a laptop.
"That was fruitful," Rotuno said. "We are in the process of dumping the first cell phone. The second [and] the laptop is actually being gone through by us as we speak. We're pretty close to being finished with that."
A state complaint I received from the Sandusky Municipal Court states, "It was learned Robert Lee Stein did send nude images of his genitalia to a juvenile over the age of 13."
Rotuno is expecting, once the investigation is done, that more significant charges will follow.
The case will then be presented to an Erie County Grand Jury.
"I think we'll be ready for a grand jury, you know, hopefully within the next month and a half," Rotuno said.
As the investigation continues, it has sparked outrage and concern among parents in the Sandusky area.
Adventure Play opened its doors in March 2025.
Kayla Lewis told me she snagged a membership for her kids shortly into the summer and has been taking them there at least once a week ever since.
"What's your experience been like?," I asked Lewis on Wednesday.
"It's been nice. It's definitely unfortunate that this had to happen. Definitely nothing I would have thought would happen," Lewis said. "I was disgusted. I was grossed out. I couldn't really believe it."
She plans on canceling her membership as soon as possible.
Lewis said she tried to inquire about a cancellation on Wednesday, but Adventure Play's regularly scheduled hours have it closed until Thursday afternoon.
"I don't plan on taking my kids back there at all. Definitely scary. I would love to protect my kids as best as I can, but this world is definitely a scary place and you never know what could be happening behind closed doors with different people," Lewis said. "I realized while going there that there was a lot of younger people working there, definitely younger girls, a lot more younger girls than younger boys, so that's definitely kind of concerning for sure because I do have a daughter myself, so just trying to protect her and other kids for sure."
Lewis said she didn't know Stein personally, but having gone to Adventure Play as often as she did, she did run into him a "few different times."
Nacole Power wasn't a frequenter of Adventure Play. Power said she'd gone once for a birthday party.
"It was our first time there. It was super fun, you know, the kids had a blast. You just walk in and it's just this gigantic bounce house and anybody can just go in and just bounce and do the obstacle courses, do the slides, platforms, stuff like that," she said.
But she said her experience was slightly tainted after hearing about Stein's arrest on social media.
"When I first found out I was actually like extremely upset. It definitely put a lot of emotions into play. There were a lot of moms on Facebook expressing their concerns about everything. It's hard hearing somebody around here who's involved with a minor and you don't get any details," Power said. "It was a lot of emotions: anger, sad, frustrated. Now knowing that it's a 17-year-old, it makes my mom heart a little bit better. I know there's some moms out there who probably won't agree with me. I'm just glad to know that it wasn't, you know, an actual young child, and we had our kids there and something bad could have happened."
Power plans to wait for more information to be revealed in the case before deciding whether to take her kids back to Adventure Play.
"I think definitely we would have to wait and see how this kind of plays out," said Power. "I probably would take my kids back and just go have some fun, knowing that my kids are younger. It definitely makes you a little bit more on guard though. Stuff like that can happen anywhere."
The Perkins Police Department believes Stein may have been involved with other minors.
Rotuno told me at least one other person has come forward with sex crime allegations against Stein.
Rotuno said that individual is in her late 20s now, but that an incident allegedly happened between her and Stein when she was 17.
"I find it very hard to believe there's probably not more in the middle there," Rotuno said.
Between Wednesday and Thursday, I've reached out to Adventure Play twice via its website's contact form, twice via Facebook Messenger and twice by phone.
A voicemail was left both times I called.
Due to Adventure Play's regularly scheduled hours, my Wednesday call was not answered.
As we stopped by the business when it was scheduled to open, Stein made a brief appearance. He stood inside for several minutes, locking eyes with our camera a few times.
When I called Adventure Play Thursday afternoon, no one answered again.
A temporary closure sign was posted on the front door. It did not specify how long Adventure Play would be out of commission.
If you have any information pertaining to this case, call the Perkins Police Department at 419-627-0824, ext. 6005.
