GALLIPOLIS — Bond has been set in the case against an Oak Hill man accused of raping a 12-year-old Gallia County girl earlier this year.

William H. Simmers, Jr., 54, 436 Cambria Furnace Road, Oak Hill, is being held in the Gallia County Jail under at $1 million, 10 percent bond.

Simmers pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape, all felonies of the first degree, and one count of tampering with evidence, a third degree felony, on Friday during an arraignment hearing in the Common Pleas Court of Gallia County.

The defendant was arrested at his home just after midnight on Tuesday, May 22 following an investigation into the alleged incidents by deputies with the Gallia County Sheriff’s Office and agents with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

Reportedly, the mother of the female victim in this case reported the incident to the Oak Hill Police Department on May 21 and officers there subsequently contacted the Gallia County Sheriff’s Office.

Simmers was indicted by a Gallia County grand jury on May 23 and, according to the indictment in this case, he allegedly engaged in sexual conduct with the victim, identified as “Jane Doe #1” with a birth date of February 12, 2000, from March 1-May 19, 2012, and, on May 19, allegedly destroyed an electronic storage device which contained nude photos of the victim.

During Friday’s hearing, a jury trial in this case was scheduled for August 8. A negotiated plea in this case may be filed by July 30.