A 7-month-old baby was found with serious injuries that set off a joint investigation between two Ohio sheriff's offices, ending with the arrest of a 22-year-old Cambridge man now sitting in the Guernsey County Jail on a felonious assault charge. Detectives traced the alleged abuse to a residence on Cadiz Road in Guernsey County, even though the case first came to law enforcement's attention through a report to a different county's sheriff.
How a Washington County Report Led Detectives to Guernsey County
According to The Daily Jeffersonian, detectives with the Washington County Sheriff's Office initially received the report about the infant's potentially life-threatening injuries. As reported by YourRadioPlace.com, that report ultimately led investigators to a residence on Cadiz Road, prompting the case's transfer into Guernsey County jurisdiction. Cadiz Road, also known as U.S. Route 22, runs eastward from Cambridge across Guernsey County, roughly 60 miles north of the Washington County seat in Marietta, per the tourism agency Energize Ohio — a distance that helps explain why two separate sheriff's offices had to coordinate on the case.
During the investigation, 22-year-old Phillip Loschiavo of Cambridge was identified as the suspect. He was questioned at the Guernsey County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Guernsey County Jail on a second-degree felony count of felonious assault, the station's report notes. The Daily Jeffersonian similarly reports that Loschiavo was charged with felonious assault following the joint probe.
Sheriff Points to Possible Additional Charges
Guernsey County Sheriff Jeffrey Paden commended the cooperative work between the two sheriff's offices, according to the same account, and said additional criminal charges could still be presented to a Guernsey County grand jury as the investigation continues. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2903.11, second-degree felony felonious assault applies when someone knowingly causes serious physical harm to another person, carrying a potential penalty of 2 to 8 years in state prison and fines up to $15,000, according to Zukerman Law. Grand juries in severe child injury cases frequently weigh additional child endangerment charges alongside felonious assault; under Ohio Revised Code Section 2919.22, that charge escalates to a second- or third-degree felony when serious physical harm to a child results, according to the Ohio Laws code database.
Several open questions remain in the case. The dossier does not specify the exact medical condition or prognosis of the 7-month-old victim, the nature of Loschiavo's relationship to the infant, whether Guernsey County Children Services has taken emergency protective custody, or when Loschiavo's case might go before the grand jury.
Not the First Infant Abuse Case in the County
This is not the first time Guernsey County Sheriff's Office detectives have investigated severe injuries to an infant. In January 2025, detectives looked into a case involving an infant under 4 months old who had sustained multiple bone fractures from non-accidental abuse, which led to a 23-year-old Lore City father being charged with second-degree felonious assault and child endangerment, according to the Guernsey County Sheriff's Office.
Cases like these move through a local juvenile court system, and child maltreatment is also tracked statewide.
Guernsey County Children Services has cooperated with sheriff's deputies in a prior child-abuse case. It remains unclear whether the agency has been involved in Loschiavo's case.
