OxfordPress.com

site web

HAMILTON — A Butler County jury didn't believe a New Miami man's claim that his sexual assault victims were lying and convicted him of all 16 charges on Wednesday, Oct. 16, after four hours of deliberation.

Kenneth Ashcraft, 41, has been found guilty of 11 counts of rape, one count of felonious sexual penetration, three counts of corruption of a minor and one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor for sexually abusing five girls over a span of 15 years.

The verdict was returned at 6:05 p.m. in Butler County Common Pleas Judge Noah Powers' courtroom.

When the verdict was read, Ashcraft showed no emotion, just rolled up his shirt sleeves and stroked his beard.

Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McElfresh praised Hamilton police Detective Mark Hayes for investigating the case. Two of the victims were in the courtroom when the verdict was read. They joined McElfresh in around of applause for Hayes in the hallway.

"I also certainly applaud the courage of all these young ladies for coming forward and testifying. Justice was finally done," McElfresh said.

Powers will sentence Ashcraft on Dec. 2 after a presentence investigation his completed. He faces a maximum of 188 years in prison.

During the two-day trial, five victims gave tearful testimony about the abuse the suffered by Ashcraft when they were just children and young teens.

Ashcraft took the stand in his own defense and told the jury all the women except one — the mother of his son — was lying.

He admitted to having sex with a 13-year-old girl and fathering a son with her. The woman, now 31, was one of five victims who emotionally recounted lurid details of sexual acts by Ashcraft.

The New Miami man said all the girls, one of whom is a family member, had reason to make false accusations against him because he owed one of them money, argued with another over a boyfriend and had stopped paying child support.

When asked who the jury should believe, Ashcraft said "their heart."

The mother of his teenage son said she met Ashcraft in the summer of 1989 — when she was 12 — at a gas station in Hamilton, where she went to buy cigarettes. The woman said Ashcraft knew her age, but continued to pursue a relationship with her.

When she was almost 13, the woman said, she and Ashcraft bought some beer and went to a Hamilton motel where they had sex. They continued a sexual relationship until she became pregnant, the woman said.

"We broke up then," she said. "He wasn't even there for the birth of his own child."

Ashcraft said he didn't know she was 13 until after she was pregnant.

"When she came in to buy cigarettes, she had a fake ID saying she was 18," Ashcraft said.

On Monday, three young women took the stand and gave painful testimony about sexual abuse they say they suffered.

One of the girls, a shaking and crying 16-year-old, recounted being sexually abused by Ashcraft, who had lived in the same home as her. The abuse began with touching when she was 11 and 12, the teen said, and progressed to intercourse. She said she began sleeping in pants and a belt in an effort to stop the abuse.

A 27-year-old woman testified she met Ashcraft at the age of 11 when he was hanging out a house where her friend lived in Hamilton. She said at the age of 11 and 12 she had intercourse and oral sex with Ashcraft 20 or more times at his residence on Buckeye street and in his van.

Another woman cried as she told the jury about Ashcraft having intercourse with her in the front seat of a car after an outing at Hueston Woods in the summer of 1991. She was 10 years old.

Hamilton police officers testified they questioned Ashcraft in the past about accusations and he always denied them. The victims too denied the abuse.

On the stand, the women admitted to denying abuse in the past, stating they were afraid to come forward because they feared Ashcraft.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.