BRYAN - A 77-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for raping a 5-year-old girl being cared for by his wife in their home.
Walter J. Brown could apply for parole after 10 years - when he is 87. But he has some health problems and Williams County Common Pleas Judge Anthony Gretick, who designated Brown a sexually oriented offender, predicted after the sentencing, "He'll never be out to register."
"The age of the victim made it particularly heinous," Judge Gretick said. "Sex offenses are always bad. But when you're speaking about as young a victim as this girl was - 5 - the offense stands out."
Brown admitted to a prosecutor's investigator that he raped the girl, although his admission and the testimony of the girl, who is now 7, differed as to the sex acts committed about two years ago.
Judge Gretick did not address Brown in court. "The sentence speaks for itself," he said.
Life in prison is mandated in rape convictions in which the victim is under age 10, so Judge Gretick had no choice in the sentencing.
The girl was either 5 or just about to turn 5 when he raped her. She lived near the Browns, which is why her mother chose Selma Brown as a baby-sitter, Williams County Prosecutor Craig Roth said. The families did not know each other well before the baby-sitting arrangements were made, he added.
Mr. Roth said he did not have evidence to charge Mrs. Brown in the case. She testified this week in defense of her husband, who retired in 1980 after 30 years as a machine operator at General Motors Corp.'s Defiance Powertrain. Since then, he has been involved in carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work.
Mrs. Brown was one of four witnesses for the defense. The others were a false confession expert, a neuropsychologist, and a clinical psychologist.
"It was not a very easy case to defend," said Brown's attorney, Adrian Cimerman of Toledo.
Brown did not speak in court.
Eight witnesses testified for the prosecution, including the girl, her mother, a pediatrician, the prosecutor's investigator, and social workers.
The jury, which heard testimony Monday and Tuesday, deliberated for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday.
"I'm very pleased with the verdict," Prosecutor Roth said. "I'm glad to know Walter's not going to be molesting any more kids."
Rapes of children as young as this girl are seldom prosecuted, Judge Gretick said, because few victims report the crime until many years have passed. But this girl told her mother, who called the sheriff after listening to her daughter.
Brown was in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, Stryker, last night. He had also been held there on the rape charge for about a month early in 2004 before he was released on a $150,000 bond.
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