Odin J. Rathnam, a Sheffield Lake man and former concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in a Pennsylvania state prison on May 8, 2025, after pleading guilty and no contest to 28 counts related to the rape and sexual abuse of a child. The abuse began when the victim was just six years old and continued for over a decade.
Now 61, Rathnam accepted a plea deal from the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office, avoiding a life sentence and sparing the now-adult victim from testifying. In addition to prison, Rathnam will serve five years of probation and be registered as a sex offender for life under Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law.
The assaults occurred between 2008 and 2019 in multiple locations in Pennsylvania. Authorities say Rathnam confessed in recorded calls with the victim but blamed alcohol abuse for memory loss. In court, he admitted the plea “did not absolve me from the darkest mistakes I’ve ever made.”
The victim, who suffered injuries so severe she later required surgery and cannot have children, told Rathnam during sentencing: “You have a darkness inside of you. No apology or crying from you will change the way I feel.”
After leaving his position in Harrisburg in 2012, Rathnam moved to Sheffield Lake, Ohio, where he continued to perform and taught part-time at Cleveland State University until the school became aware of the charges and removed him. He was arrested at his Sheffield Lake home on July 11, 2024, and extradited from Lorain County to Dauphin County, where he remained jailed without bond.
Dauphin County Judge Scott Evans also ordered Rathnam to pay $2,450 in restitution to the victim’s family—a figure notably low given the extent of the harm. Rathnam is also undergoing evaluation to determine whether he will be classified as a sexually violent predator.
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