Man Who Raped Kids at Church Denied Parole

By Mark Caudill
Mansfield News Journa
August 22, 2013

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20130821/NEWS01/308210024/Convicted-Mansfield-rapist-denied-parole?nclick_check=1

Scott Butner will serve his complete prison term.

Butner has been denied parole. Members of the Ohio Parole Board interviewed him last Friday at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

In 1992, Butner, then 17, pleaded guilty to five counts of rape and five counts of gross sexual imposition in a child molestation case. He received a concurrent sentence of eight to 25 years in prison for the rape counts and a suspended 10-year sentence for the gross sexual imposition convictions.

Butner was a volunteer baby sitter at First Presbyterian Church, 399 S. Trimble Road, in 1990 and 1991 when the abuse happened. Richland County Prosecutor James Mayer Jr. said there were 18 victims between the ages of 4 and 10. He said seven of the victims contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

The abuse occurred from the summer of 1990 to February 1991. Butner and co-defendant Lawrence Rohde were convicted of sexually abusing the children in church bathrooms, classrooms and in nearby woods while the children’s parents attended church services and other church activities.

Members of the parole board said they think Butner is a threat to re-offend.

“Offender Butner has had good conduct for many years and has engaged in some risk relevant programming,” members wrote. “However, this does not outweigh the serious nature of the instant offenses. The board by way of majority vote has determined that release at this time would not further the interest of justice and (would) place the security and society in jeopardy.”

Mayer applauded the decision.

“The parole board made the correct ruling, no doubt about it,” he said. “Scott Butner is the worst sexual pedophile I’ve seen come through Richland County.”

Rohde, then 19, took his case to trial and was convicted of seven counts of gross sexual imposition. He was released from prison in November 2000 after serving about nine years.

Butner was considered the more culpable of the two. He originally faced 37 counts.

Some of the children described satanic rituals, including the sacrifice of animals and babies, trips to a private home where they saw dead bodies stacked in a basement and other cases of molestation and abuse in which they were threatened to keep quiet.

Authorities found no evidence to support those claims.

One of the victims, a 27-year-old woman, said she has suffered because of the abuse.

“I’ve had a lot of problems in my life,” she said. “I try not to use this as an excuse, but it’s made a deep impact.

“I’m still working my way through it.”

mcaudill@gannett.com 419-521-7219