(JACKSON, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Lovett announced today that a Jackson man has been sentenced to serve life in prison without parole following his conviction for the 2013 rape and kidnapping of a six-year-old child.
Following a jury trial prosecuted jointly by the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office and Attorney General DeWine's Special Prosecutions Section in April, Zachary Dunn, 32, was found guilty of three counts of kidnapping with sexual motivation specifications, one count of abduction, one count of rape, two counts of gross sexual imposition, and one count of felonious assault.
Judge Christopher J. Regan today sentenced Dunn to life in prison without parole.
"This defendant committed one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, and with today's sentence he will never have the chance to hurt another child ever again," said Attorney General DeWine. "Those who target children in this state will be met with the full force of the law."
"Zachary Dunn is a callous child predator who still shows no genuine remorse for the terrible acts he committed against a defenseless six-year-old girl, and he is most deserving of nothing less than the maximum possible punishment that was handed down today," said Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Lovett.
Dunn was arrested in July 2013 after kidnapping the six-year-old girl from her Jackson home. Dunn sexually assaulted the victim and abandoned her in a Liberty Township cemetery before she managed to reach a nearby residence for help.
Members of Attorney General DeWine's Crimes Against Children Critical Response Team assisted the Jackson Police Department, Jackson County Sheriff's Office, and multiple other law enforcement and public safety agencies in the investigation and search for the child and suspect. The Jackson Police Department was the lead investigating agency on the case.
As part of today's sentence, Judge Regan also classified Dunn as a Tier III sex offender.
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Media Contacts:
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