Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill on Wednesday making it a crime for predators to groom a child for sexual abuse, using a pattern of behavior.The law makes grooming a misdemeanor, with felony charges possible if the victim is under age 13, or the offender gives them drugs or alcohol.Child advocates credited the WCPO 9 I-Teams reporting on two former Archdiocese of Cincinnati priests with getting attention from lawmakers and the public.After your Father Cutcher reports, there was definitely an uptick of parents calling the statehouse and asking lawmakers to do something, said Rebecca Surendorff, co-founder of Ohioans for Child Protection. I submitted your investigative reports to all the senators in Ohio along with a link to the bill so they can understand how this plays out in our community.Surendorff and Ohioans for Child Protection co-founder, Teresa Dinwiddie-Herrmann, went to Columbus to watch DeWine sign the bill. We cannot thank the governor enough for signing this into law, as it will certainly better protect the children of Ohio, Surendorff said. Our children are more accessible than ever before, and this gives law enforcement the tools they need to get offending predators away from Ohio children she added. The law will go into effect in 90 days after todays signing."Ohio is the sixth state in the nation to criminalize child grooming for sex, Surendorff said.The messages begin innocently enough and then they take a dark turn, Surendorff said on Dec. 4, when she testified before the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee, showing lawmakers four binders containing hundreds of text messages that Cutcher exchanged with a 14-year-old boy. The priest starts to discuss sex acts with the child on multiple occasions. Any reasonable person can tell this was not sex ed, this was an adult manipulating a child for a purpose, Surendorff said. Our laws fell short again.Police never charged Cutcher with a crime.Every time that there has been the release of a story or an investigative piece, I have received emails or calls from either a victim or someone involved who knows a victim and wants to do something to help or has a story to share, Dinwiddie-Herrmann said. "We have met countless survivors of child sexual assault, their families, and many concerned parents over the past five years that have hoped for help from lawmakers on this serious public safety issue."Cutchers 22-year career in active ministry ended in 2021 after a scandal. He resigned as pastor of four churches and two schools north of Dayton, including St. Peter in Huber Heights and Our Lady of the Rosary. St. Peters business manager and music director had reported him to the archdiocese for texting an eighth-grade male student for more than a year, leading into his freshman year of high school.Some of the text messages include: Just looking for an excuse to see you, to which the child responds, But you saw me yesterday. Cutcher responds, I know. Its been over 24 hours! Wow. You are incredibly handsome. Are you all brown and tanned? I will miss you. Hows your love life? I really miss your office visits. I sure do miss talking to you. You were in my dream last night It was one of those fun dreams Im a lot younger in my dreams. You have become quite important to me lately. Youre gonna need to send some selfies with your new clothes. I swear as soon as the weather breaks again Im gonna bike ride over to your neighborhood. You need to come back now. I miss you already. The child describes how his family is having takeout dinner from BJs to which Cutcher responds, Oh the restaurant, I always think of something else when someone says BJs I wont tell you the thing but the second word is job. (Think below the belt).When I asked Cutcher during a June interview if these texts were okay to send to a 14-year-old boy, he responded, No. His interview especially, I dont know how anyone could watch that and not be affected in some way, Dinwiddie-Herrmann said. Surendorff also testified to lawmakers about Drew, the former pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Green Township who pleaded guilty to raping an altar boy early in his career when he was a music minister at St. Jude.Father Geoff Drew began his career as a music minister at my elementary school where he was abusing little boys. He went on to become a priest despite documented concerns and his last assignment gave him superintendent-like power at St. Ignatius the largest Catholic in Ohio. My four kids were all students there at the time of Geoff Drews arrest, Surendorff testified.Drew is set to be released from prison in August 2026 to an uncertain future as a registered sex offender. WCPO examined his case in new detail using text messages, audio and video interviews, and thousands of pages of documents obtained from police and prosecutors through public records requests. It revealed that priests, parents, and church and school officials knew about Drews inappropriate behavior with boys for decades, ranging from lingering hugs and shoulder massages to vacations and camping trips where alcohol was served and a boy blacked out from drinking too much.Drews 2019 arrest and 2021 conviction create a frightening picture of red flag sexual grooming behavior with minors over the course of three decades in three Ohio counties, Surendorff testified.Sixteen others who support the grooming bill also testified on Dec. 4, either in person or by submitting written testimony including Child USA, Enough Abuse, Child USAdvocacy, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association.Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Dobson testified that lawmakers need to do more to protect children from sexual abuse.Describing sex acts to a child talking to the child about things they should do to themselves these are actually not violations of the law. Even when theyre coupled with clear intention to move that child toward sexual activity with the offender, Dobson said. Isolated innocent compliments from a teacher to a child are not considered grooming behavior, he said.Instead, law enforcement looks for a pattern of behavior from adults: buying a child personal gifts such as jewelry, driving children home, discussing their intimate relations with others, talking about sex, telling a child how much they love them and saying they could have a relationship once the child is older.Theres no doubt to a reasonable person that the adult is working the child toward sex, Dobson said. Currently there is no law against this grooming process This is intended to stop people before they do greater damage. The Ohio Senate unanimously passed the bill on Dec. 18.Republican state Reps. Bill Seitz (Cincinnati) and Cindy Abrams (Harrison) introduced the grooming bill, House Bill 322, in late 2023, and it passed the House earlier in 2024.The Geoff Drew case is what led to the statute on grooming, Seitz told WCPO last March. Because folks were concerned that he was being passed around from parish to parish and up to no good to whichever parish he went.