(COLUMBUS, Ohio)— Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that an Auglaize County man has been sentenced to serve the rest of his life in prison following his conviction this week on 43 charges of rape, sexual battery, and gross sexual imposition.
Visiting Judge Dale Crawford today sentenced Charles Wycuff, 54, of Wapakoneta, to four life sentences plus an additional 145 years in prison. The defendant was also classified as a sexual predator.
A Franklin County jury found Wycuff guilty on Wednesday of 26 counts of rape, 12 counts of sexual battery, and five counts of gross sexual imposition stemming from the sexual abuse of a juvenile that occurred from 1997 to 2003. Nine of the charges carried a sexually violent predator specification for which the jury also found him guilty.
"This defendant preyed on the young victim for years, and for that, he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison," said Attorney General DeWine. "This case should serve as a reminder that abusers can still be held accountable even if several years have passed since the abuse took place."
Prosecutors with Attorney General DeWine's Special Prosecutions Section prosecuted the case.
Both Wycuff and his ex-wife Lori Anderson, 51, also of Wapakoneta, were arrested last year after an investigation by the Attorney General's Crimes Against Children Unit, which is a division of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), uncovered evidence that the child had been sexually abused. The victim is now an adult.
Anderson, who was an elementary school teacher in Auglaize County at the time of her arrest, pleaded guilty earlier this month to three counts of sexual battery and will be sentenced in November.
The crimes committed by both defendants occurred in Auglaize County, but both cases were transferred to Franklin County due to pre-trial publicity.
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