Violinist Odin Rathnam Arrested and Charged with Raping a Child

According to the Lower Paxton Township Police Department, the violinist is charged with multiple felony counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 10

Violinist Odin Rathnam, 58, was arrested at his residence in Sheffield Lake, Ohio, earlier this month. The Lower Paxton Bureau of Police reports that the charges against Rathnam include the "rape of a child, and other sexual offenses, against a child under the age of 10." The offenses allegedly occurred over several years in multiple locations throughout Dauphin County and other areas of Pennsylvania between 2008 and 2019.

According to PennLive, the victim reported the abuse in May and alleged that she suffered injuries from the sexual assaults and that she has ongoing medical issues.

Cleveland.com reported that Rathnam recently appeared before a Lorain County judge for an extradition hearing. An attorney for Rathnam was not listed in the Pennsylvania court filings, and there is no longer a contact page on Rathnam's website.

Rathnam is a former concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, in Pennsylvania, and a former violin instructor at the Cleveland State University.

A representative of the Harrisburg Symphony told The Violin Channel that "The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra recently learned about sexual assault charges filed against Odin Rathnam, who worked as concertmaster of the HSO from 1991 through 2012.  He has not been affiliated with the HSO since that time. We do not know anything more about the allegations than what we have read in the news media. We will do everything we can to cooperate fully should we be contacted by law enforcement as part of their investigation. To date, we have not been contacted and have no reason to believe that any parties related to the HSO were involved in these allegations."

Cleveland State University shared the following with The Violin Channel: "Cleveland State University has been made aware by authorities in Pennsylvania of an investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Odin Rathnam in Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio. According to law enforcement, these allegations do not involve a CSU student, nor did the alleged incidents happen on CSU's campus.

"Rathnam’s part-time contract with CSU was not renewed after the University was made aware of the charges against him, and Cleveland State will fully cooperate as needed with authorities in Pennsylvania and Sheffield Lake as they investigate."