Marion man admits to raping child, 12

MARION, Ohio ( WCMH ) – A Marion County man faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty this week to raping a child in 2023.

John L. Sands III, 39, of Marion, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of first-degree felony rape. In exchange for the guilty plea, a second rape charge and two unlawful sexual conduct with a minor charges were dropped.

According to the office of Marion County Prosecutor Ray Grogan, the abuse took place between May 1, 2023, and July 19, 2023. Sands was arrested in November after the victim told their mother what had happened, and the mother contacted the police.

Grogan’s office said Sands gave the 12-year-old victim marijuana and methamphetamine, putting the drugs in the child’s food. Sands also tried to groom the victim by buying them gifts, including shoes, clothes, a television, and a gaming system, “as part of his strategy to win the victim’s trust and conceal his abusive actions,” Grogan wrote in a press release.

“The details of this rapist’s actions are too disturbing to list here but we can say he exploited and manipulated his young victim in a premeditated and reprehensible manner,” Grogan wrote in the press release.

Sands and the victim’s family had a longstanding relationship dating to before the victim was born, Grogan said.

Sands could be sentenced to life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in Marion County Common Pleas Court on May 22.

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