Fiancé of social worker who allegedly had sex with teen was jailed for child endangerment

The Ohio social worker accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in her care is engaged to a man who served time for child endangerment and faced charges for raping a 14-year-old girl.

Payton Shires, 24 — who was charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor after the boy’s mom discovered disturbing text messages between the pair — has a child with her fiancé ​Nicholas Rafter, a 27-year-old plumber, the Daily Mail reported.

Rafter has been jailed for nearly five years after being convicted of two counts of burglary and one count of child endangerment, the outlet reported.

Rafter was accused of drugging and assaulting a 14-year-old girl when he was 19 years old. He allegedly gave the girl a “drug, intoxicant or controlled substance to her surreptitiously or by force, threat of force, or deception,” the Daily Mail reported, citing court documents.

He was charged with rape, sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, but the charges were dropped after he pleaded guilty to child endangerment, the outlet said.

Rafter spent four years and 11 months behind bars before being released early in August 2017, according to the report.

After he was released, Rafter was reportedly placed under an intensive supervision parole for five years and was subject to random drug screenings until July 2022.

He declined to comment to the Daily Mail near his Columbus home.

He spent the time in prison three years before he began dating Shires, who has expressed support for the death penalty for pedophiles on social media – where she shared an image with the message: “Dead pedophiles don’t reoffend.”

In 2020, she retweeted a post on her personal X account featuring a vehicle’s bumper sticker with the message.

Meanwhile, Shires has showed off her life on social media, sharing images of her 1-year-old son and fiancé.

In one post, she wrote, “Own a house, have 3 dogs, got engaged, and have a 1 year old all at 21. So proud of these accomplishments.”

She was slapped with the charges after an Oct. 6 phone call with the teen’s mother and Columbus detectives, during which she admitted to the sick behavior.

Shires landed in more hot water when she later showed up at the boy’s home with a gun. While away from home, his mother saw her on the doorbell camera and called the cops.

Police found him sitting with a gun pointed at her head and her finger on the trigger — yelling that she was going to kill herself.

The boy’s mom reportedly told cops that Shires called her and told her she wanted to kill her, then take her own life because she and her son had ruined her life.

Shires also has been charged with intimidation of a crime victim and intimidation of a crime witness.

The boy has reportedly admitted to having sex with Shires on at least two occasions in September.

Shires worked for the National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP), which specializes in working with families involved in the foster care system. It’s unclear whether she met the boy through NYAP.