Tidings editor Bolsinger arrested in Salem

Andrew Scot Bolsinger, the 41-year-old editor of the Ashland Daily Tidings, was arrested on charges of rape and sodomy in the first degree in Salem on Friday. Bolsinger was also charged with five counts of sexual abuse in the second degree and custodial interference in the first degree.

Bolsinger has been suspended from his job as editor at the Ashland Daily Tidings, according to Mail Tribune editor Bob Hunter. The Mail Tribune and Daily Tidings are both owned by Ottaway Newspapers Inc.

“We have no comment pending resolution of the case,” Hunter said late Friday night. “We’re in no position to judge guilt or innocence in this.”

The arrest is the result of an investigation conducted by Marion County Sheriff’s Office detectives, who were contacted in September 2007 by a former female student of the Willamette Valley Christian School in the town of Brooks.

A press release from the sheriff’s office said the student was 16 years old during the time she alleges having a sexual relationship with Bolsinger. He was a coach and teacher at the school in the spring of 2000.

Bolsinger was last employed at the school in May of 2000.

Bolsinger was appointed editor of the Tidings in July of 2003. Prior to that, he was a political reporter and city editor at the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va.