Kenneth H. Brandt of Ohio accused of raping 3 of his adopted children, allowed 2 men to have sex them, Patrick Reider chged w/ 4 counts of rape, Jason Zwick, 29 chged with felony sexual penatration/Brandt gets 60 yrs Reider gets life, Zwick gets 10 yrs

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Bond set for several men in child sex case
Updated: 10:47 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 | Posted: 6:11 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, 2012

By Lou Grieco, Kelli Wynn and Mark Gokavi

Staff Writers

TROY, Ohio —

Montgomery County’s Prosecutor’s Office has approved four counts of rape of a child under the age of 13-years-old, all felonies of the first degree against Patrick Reider of Dayton, said prosecuting attorney Mat Heck, Jr. in a press release on Wednesday.

Reider is accused of sexually assaulting a child in his East Sixth Street Dayton home that he meet online through Kenneth H. Brandt of Troy.

Brandt who adopted three children and was in the process of adopting a fourth, is accused of raping three of those children and allowing other men to have sex with at least one of them.

Kenneth H. Brandt, 39, is charged with three counts of rape and one count of compelling prostitution. He is in Miami County Jail on $800,000 bond.

Police said Brandt was one of at least three men who were the subjects of an Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigation. The other men — Jason Zwick, 29 of Beavercreek and Patrick Rieder, 31 of Dayton — also are in jail, facing felony charges.

Zwick was arraigned Wednesday morning and is being held in the Miami County Jail on $500,000 bond. He was charged with felony sexual penatration. His next court date will be March 7 for a preliminary hearing, accoring to a Miami County Municipal Court official.

“We’re hoping that we don’t have any other (victims) and we hope that we have stopped this before it got any further,” Troy police Capt. Chris Anderson said.

Meanwhile, state and local agencies have launched separate investigations into the child abuse allegations and the adoption process.

“Anytime there is allegations of child abuse, especially to the extent this is, it’s heartbreaking for the children,” Executive Director of Miami County Children’s Services, said Tuesday. “We’re in this to make sure children stay safe.

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will review how the adoption took place, a spokesman said. “We are absolutely pulling the paperwork from this case and staff is looking through it,” said Ben Johnson of ODJFS. “The allegations are heinous, horrific, awful.”

The rest of the story is at the above link.

May 17, 2013
Kenneth H. Brandt pleaded guilty to raping his three sons, ages 9 to 12; two were adopted and the other was in the process of being adopted. Brandt also pleaded guilty to prostituting one of the boys, aged 10, out to two other men. Not long before the sexual abuse was discovered, Brandt had removed the three boys from their school to homeschool them, removing their access to anyone they could ask for help. The abuse was discovered in a sting operation when an undercover detective posing as interested in sex with underage boys and communicated with Brandt online. Brandt had also adopted a girl, but she was not subject to abuse. Brandt was found guilty and sentenced to sixty years in prison.
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DAYTON, Ohio -- An Ohio man pleaded guilty Friday to raping a boy at the center of sexual abuse allegations that have already landed the boy's adoptive father and another man long prison sentences.

Following his plea, the Montgomery County prosecutor's office said Patrick Rieder was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

Rieder, 32, pleaded guilty to 27 counts including rape of a child under 13, pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor and illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material or performance.

Authorities said the boy's adoptive father gave Rieder and another man access to the boy. The adoptive father brought the child to Rieder's Dayton home, where both men raped him, prosecutors alleged.

Rieder's attorney, Christopher Thompson, did not immediately return calls Friday.

The adoptive father pleaded guilty Nov. 2 to six counts of raping three young boys in his care in Miami County, where prosecutors have recommended a sentence of 60 years to life in prison in exchange for his guilty plea. He also pleaded guilty Dec. 20 in a Montgomery County court in Dayton to one count each of child rape and complicity to rape under a plea agreement that calls for 50 years to life in prison.

The adoptive father agreed to testify at Rieder's trial that had been scheduled for later this month, but Montgomery County prosecutor's spokesman Greg Flannagan said that sentencing may be moved up in light of Rieder's plea.

Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said after the adoptive father's plea that the father "will basically spend the rest of his natural life locked up and that certainly is a good disposition."

Authorities said the 40-year-old adoptive father had been caring for three boys and a girl in his Miami County home and adopted all of the children except for one of the boys, whom he was in the process of adopting.


The Associated Press isn't naming the adoptive father to protect the identities of the children, whose ages at the time of the arrests ranged from 9 to 12.

The adoptive father told The Associated Press in an interview late last year that he was sorry for his actions and wanted to testify against Rieder and another man in Miami County who was charged with raping the boy.

The Miami County prosecutor said that the adoptive father arranged for Jason Zwick, of Beavercreek, to rape the boy. Zwick, 30, pleaded no contest Jan. 8 to one count of child rape in that case and was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

The adoptive father was arrested in February 2012 as the result of a detective's investigation of a person who went online seeking what was called "taboo" sex.

Rieder was also labeled a sex offender at his sentencing, meaning he would have to register his address every 90 days for the rest of his life if he ever leaves prison.
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TROY, Ohio — A western Ohio man pleaded no contest Tuesday to one count of child rape involving the adopted son of a man who had earlier admitted to raping three boys in his care.

Jason Zwick, 30, made the plea in Miami County, just before jury selection was to begin. Common Pleas Judge Christopher Gee pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to 10 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors dropped two other charges that Zwick had raped the 10-year-old adopted son of the Troy man who has pleaded guilty to raping three boys. Zwick, of the Dayton suburb of Beavercreek, allegedly went to the adoptive father's home in Troy to rape the boy after the men communicated online.

The boy's 40-year-old adoptive father, who will serve 60 years to life in prison as part of his plea agreement, was expected to testify against Zwick, as was the boy, now 11.

Zwick's attorney had unsuccessfully sought Monday to delay the trial, alleging possible witness tampering. Attorney Joe Stadnicar wasn't available immediately for comment after the plea Tuesday.

Dressed in a dark suit, Zwick answered "yes" to a series of questions from the judge, who wanted to make sure Zwick understood his rights and the details of the plea and possible sentence. Zwick declined to make a statement before the judge ruled.

Zwick's plea means he doesn't contest the charge against him, without admitting guilt. Anthony Kendell, an assistant county prosecutor, said prosecutors expect him to appeal, but believe they are on solid ground for an appeal.

Gee also sentenced Zwick to pay a $20,000 fine and ordered him to regularly report his whereabouts as a sex offender to law enforcement if he becomes free. He can't live near a school or daycare.

"This is the most despicable thing I've ever seen," Kendell said after the plea hearing. "This is a guy out shopping for minors ... to have sex with. We got him off the street."


Gee had ruled earlier that the boy could testify via closed circuit television, instead of taking the witness stand in the open courtroom.

Zwick's attorney had asked Monday to delay the trial, charging that the adoptive father's mother had taken photos or video of Zwick during a jail visit, possibly to help her son or other witnesses identify Zwick in court. Stadnicar said in his argument Monday that the defense contended that Zwick had been wrongly identified as the culprit. Gee denied the motion for a continuance.

The Associated Press isn't naming the adoptive father in order to protect the children's identities.

The Troy man was a longtime foster father who had adopted two boys and a girl and was in the process of adopting a fourth child, another boy, when arrested last February. The children were ages 9 to 12 at the time of his arrest.

He also has pleaded guilty in neighboring Montgomery County to child rape and complicity to rape. In that case, he was charged with taking the same boy as in the Zwick case to the home of Patrick Rieder, 32, of Dayton. Rieder's trial is scheduled Feb. 19 on four counts of rape of a child under 13.

The adoptive father also agreed to testify in Rieder's trial. His Montgomery County sentencing is tentatively set for Feb. 26, and the plea agreement there calls for 50 years to life in prison.

Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. last month called the adoptive father a child abuser who "will basically spend the rest of his natural life locked up."

The adoptive father told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he was sorry for hurting the children, and hoped they would be spared from testifying. The children were placed in the care of the county children's service agency after his arrest.

Authorities say they made the arrests after an investigation that began with an undercover detective checking into an online posting about "taboo sex."
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