Hamilton man faces life in prison after guilty pleas to child rape, porn possession

A Hamilton man faces life in prison after pleading guilty to raping a child and filming that child in a sex act.

Johnanthony Boyd, 20, of the 1200 block of Vine Street, was arrested by Hamilton detectives on May 24 and booked into the Butler County Jail, where he has been held in lieu of $205,000 bond.

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Boyd was indicted on nine counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, nine counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and one count of rape. He pleaded guilty to one count of pandering and the rape charge in Butler County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday. In exchange for the plea, the remaining 17 charges were dismissed.

The crimes occurred in 2018.

A police report was filed in March that said a witness received a photograph of a minor in a state of nudity, according to Hamilton police.

Hamilton police and prosecutors said Boyd recorded a video of an 11-year-old child performing a sex act on him. All of the images were in Boyd’s possession on his phone, according to the arrest report.

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The guilty plea came a week before Boyd’s trial was scheduled to begin in Judge Charles Pater’s courtroom. Pater set sentencing for Jan. 7.

Boyd faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years.

Because of the graphic nature of the offenses, Boyd’s plea hearing came at the end of a busy day of cases, so that the courtroom was nearly empty of other defendants and spectators. Two women cried in the courtroom and left without comment.

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