CINCINNATI — A Springfield Township man is facing 35 years behind bars after pleading guilty to three counts of rape and two counts of sexual battery involving minors.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Foley issued the sentence Monday to 22-year-old John Tucker, whom investigators initially charged with 12 counts of sexual assault involving at least four of Tuckers' younger relatives or acquaintances, ranging in age from 1 year to 6 years old at the time of the crimes.
Tucker pleaded guilty to five of the charges on Dec. 9.
Investigators said Tucker began abusing the children when he also was a minor, at age 13, and continued until 2019.
Springfield Township Police Det. Sean McBride read aloud in court Monday statements written by two of the children.
"'I just want you to know that I am free from you. I do not have any more worry about you hurting me anymore,'" McBride read from a statement issued by a boy who was 3 years old when Tucker abused him.
McBride read another statement from a girl who was 4 years old when Tucker and another then-teenager, Curtis Levy, raped her seven years ago.
"'After all the pain you have put me through and the suffering I went through for years, I want to say that I forgive you,'" McBride read in court.
Levy was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of rape.
Tucker's 35-year sentence was part of an agreement with the court that does not come with the possibility of early release.
"You have done a great deal of damage to these people, and they will suffer, and their families will suffer for a long, long time," Foley said Monday in court.
Both Tucker and Levy declined to make a statement at Monday's court proceedings.
