Violinist Odin Rathnam Charged with Felony Sexual Abuse of a Child

July 24, 2024, 11:17 PM · Violinist Odin J. Rathnam, 58, was arrested earlier this month and charged with multiple felony counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 10, according to the Lower Paxton Township Police Department in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Odin Rathnam, photo from the Lower Paxton Township Police Department.

The charges include rape and other sexual offenses against a child under the age of 10 that allegedly occurred over the course of several years in multiple locations throughout the Harrisburg area and other areas of Pennsylvania between 2008 and 2019. In the course of the investigation, multiple conversations were legally recorded between Rathnam and the victim, according to police.

Rathnam was arrested by Ohio police at his residence in Sheffield Lake, Ohio and incarcerated with no bail in Pennsylvania at the Dauphin County Prison in Harrisburg, according to police.

Rathnam is the former concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony and was teaching at Cleveland State University, which issued the following statement, according to Fox 43 news in Harrisburg.

"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 is no longer employed at Cleveland State, and the University will fully cooperate as needed with authorities in Pennsylvania and Sheffield Lake as they investigate."

Rathnam is a violinist who studied at Mannes College of Music and Juilliard School with Sally Thomas and Dorothy DeLay and he has given pedagogy classes at the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies.