Michael McVey, 50, the superintendent of Steubenville City Schools, was indicted on a charge of obstructing justice, along with three others including an elementary school principal, eight months after two teenage football stars were found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl.
The case was widely followed because social media also seemed to be on trial: teenagers exchanged scores of text messages and cellphone images documenting the assault, during a night of drunken parties in August 2012. The police learned of it only when the girl's parents gave them a flash drive two days later filled with graphic Twitter posts and video.
"While this started out being about the kids, it is also just as much about the parents, about the grown-ups, about the adults," said Mike DeWine, Ohio's attorney general, in announcing the charges.
The attorney general offered no details on Monday about what led to the charges against the superintendent, including felony counts of tampering with evidence and obstructing justice.
But a person in law enforcement with knowledge of the grand jury said the charges were related not to the August 2012 rape, but to an accusation of an earlier rape, in April 2012, of a 14-year-old student, who came forward after the publicity over the case involving the football players.
Both cases have been handled by the attorney general, who stepped in after the local prosecutor recused herself.
Online activists, including Anonymous, a hacker group, turned the case into a cause célèbre by accusing the community of closing ranks to protect its athletic heroes.
Many in Steubenville, a struggling industrial town on the Ohio River border with West Virginia, resented the scrutiny, accusing outsiders of painting with too broad a brush.
After a four-day trial in March, a judge convicted the two football players, a former quarterback and a former wide receiver.
The indictment against the elementary school principal, Lynett Gorman, 40, on a charge of failing to report child abuse, related to the earlier case of the 14-year-old girl. Two others were charged in the case of the 16-year-old: a high school wrestling coach, Seth Fluharty, 26, charged with failing to report child abuse, and Matthew Bellardine, 26, a former assistant football coach, who was charged with allowing under-age drinking and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
In an interview last year, Mr. McVey said that he was satisfied at the time of the episode that the head football coach, Reno Saccoccia, would take care of the matter and discipline his players.
Mr. Saccoccia was not indicted. His winning Big Red teams are so popular they regularly fill the hometown side of a stadium known as Death Valley, whose 10,000 seats could accommodate more than half Steubenville's population.
At the trial of the two players convicted in March, Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, a text message was read from Mr. Mays stating that he had persuaded Mr. Saccoccia "to take care of it" and that his coach "was joking about it so I'm not that worried."
Asked at a news conference about the head coach, Mr. DeWine said he was forbidden to speak about the grand jury investigation, which he praised as thorough. "Every possible charge against any possible individual was considered," he said.
Earlier, seeming to anticipate the question, Mr. DeWine said: "Some may ask why others were not indicted. Under our system of justice the grand jury must have probable cause to believe all the elements of a criminal offense are present."
"It is simply not sufficient that a person's behavior was reprehensible, disgusting, mean-spirited or just plain stupid," he said. Mr. DeWine said he did not anticipate further indictments, barring new evidence.
Robert Fitzsimmons, a lawyer representing the victim and her family, said the system had worked. "We're very satisfied with the decision," he said. That the head coach was not indicted after being the subject of rumors, he added, "teaches everyone we shouldn't point fingers until the evidence is known."
If convicted, Mr. McVey could serve more than five years in prison.
Mr. DeWine criticized the adults who he said had failed to set boundaries for teenagers, and he criticized social media, for allowing people to instantly spread information without responsibility.
"Technology makes it possible to disseminate words and information, either true or false, at the push of a button," he said. "We don't have to look each other in the eye — leaving an electronic barrier that divorces us from shame and from the hurt felt by others."
Juliet Macur and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: November 25, 2013
An earlier version of this article, a picture caption and a web summary misstated the link between the four indictments announced by Ohio's attorney general and the rape of a 16-year-old girl last year. While the grand jury actions resulted from an inquiry into a cover-up of that case, two of the indictments — including the obstruction charge against the schools superintendent of Steubenville — resulted from another rape case, that of a 14-year-old, last year. The article also incorrectly described one of the adults indicted. She is an elementary school principal, not an elementary school teacher.
