St. Rita's Molester Gets Unusual Sentence
By Kimball Perry
As a resident adviser at St. Ritas School for the Deaf, Joshua Bort was supposed to be an example for the students. Without even a prior traffic ticket, the 25-year-old was a good example, school officials thought, especially after Bort told them a student was responsible for the alcohol and marijuana found at the school. An investigation, though, revealed that Bort brought the alcohol and drugs into the school and was using them to molest students, including the one he falsely blamed initially. In an unusual move, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman sent Bort, 25, of Maineville, to prison Tuesday for one year. The sentence was unusual because Bort pleaded guilty and the crimes carried the presumption of probation, making prison unlikely. He molested these young men, Ruehlman said. This is not acceptable from a person in a position of trust. Both victims told the judge, with the help of a sign language interpreter, they were angry by what Bort did to them and how it has upset their lives. One, a senior at the school, remains so shaken that he refuses to go back. He made the choice to do this to these kids. They didnt have a choice, the mother of one victim told the judge. In September, Bort pleaded guilty to gross sexual imposition and sexual imposition involving two students at the Evendale school. St. Rita is a Catholic school, where some students live, providing services for the deaf.
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