Ohio Dad Charged With Raping 3 Adopted Kids, Selling Them For Sex

March 1, 2012 1:15 PM

File photo of police crime scene tape. (credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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TROY, Ohio (AP) — Law enforcement officials are widening the investigation into child sexual exploitation allegations against an adoptive father and two other men that have stunned a small city, authorities said Thursday.

Two men who police say had sex with a boy in meetings arranged through the adoptive father have been jailed on rape charges. The 39-year-old adoptive father — identified as 39-year-old Kenneth Brandt by the Dayton Daily News — was arrested last week on charges he had sex with the three boys who lived with him in Troy, a city of some 25,000 people about 20 miles from Dayton.

Troy police Capt. Chris Anderson said Thursday that the community’s reaction was “shock and disbelief.” The man at the center of the investigation is a longtime resident who had been involved in a local youth basketball program, though Anderson said police so far haven’t found any signs of any inappropriate behavior involving other children.

Police also hadn’t found any records of past major criminal charges against Brandt. The man worked out of his home as an insurance claims adjuster, Anderson said.

The man had adopted three children, one of them a 9-year-old girl, and was in the process of adopting a fourth child, authorities said.

“We’re hoping we have stopped this before it got any further,” said Anderson.

The Dayton Daily News reported that the adoptive father was a former president of the Foster Parent Association of Miami County. A search warrant affidavit said the man brought the children from Texas as a foster parent, the newspaper reported.

State children’s services officials are reviewing records and said the adoptions were handled by a private agency. Other details weren’t available immediately.

The case began unfolding last week when an undercover detective in Franklin County, part of a state task force, talked online with the adoptive father, who said he would arrange sex with a 10-year-old boy, Troy police said.

Federal and state prosecutors and investigators and police from three Ohio cities planned to meet Thursday to discuss how to proceed in the widening investigation. The FBI said it was pursuing federal sexual exploitation charges.

According to the Dayton Daily News, Brandt and the other two men, 29-year-old Jason Zwick and 31-year-old Patrick Rieder, remained jailed Thursday on rape charges.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Ohio Dad Charged With Raping 3 Adopted Kids, Selling Them For Sex

beazr

I would love for the chance to kill all three of these disgusting demons. No jail, no long awaiting capital punishment bullets riddle each body as they leave the courtroom.
bluepeas

These boys are going to need top notch counseling from the best the state has to offer before they suppress any of those mental & emotional issues. Being not one of them stepped up & told on the perp to a worker or teacher, verifys their emotional scars are deep & they blame themselves for their parents deserting them. On top of all that, the perp pushed these fragile wounded souls over the deep end into a nightmarish world created from the darkest corners of his own demonic mind. The line between right & wrong for them are now blurred. They must get those boys long-term counseling & therapy from professionals well experienced in these types of cases. Additionally, a professional willing to bond w/ these children into adulthood. If not, the cycle may just continue. Many child molesters are victims themselves. Victims who surrendered physically, mentally & emotionally to the disease (I call it bad spirits) becoming perps themselves.
robertsgt40

Tip of the iceberg. Look up “Franklin Coverup”
Jake

Those poor children, my heart breaks when I read of things like this. There’s an especially hot and dark hole in hell for those men, and I see no reason to prolong their time on this earth. For those children, may they get a counsellor and friend who can help them work through something I can’t even imagine. If they don’t, they may likely become perpetrators of the very thing they hate most of all.
ladywpaint

Why is it that the good State of Texas pays more than I make in a year to sell these children off into legal Foster Care where they are raped and tortured. Why not help the parents instead so maybe they can keep their children or at least a relative can take them. Texas CPS does not look for any family members to take the children, I know, I live in Texas and have friends and their families who are going through this. They medicate children and dumb them down, then coach them on what to say. Illegal??? should be.