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Child rapist sentenced to 28 years in prison for possessing child pornography

9/30/2014

By Adam Ferrise, Northeast Ohio Media Group


AKRON, Ohio — A Barberton sex offender previously convicted of raping one girl and sexually assaulting another will spend 28 more years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Christine Croce sentenced Jeffrey Haught, 56, on Tuesday. Haught pleaded guilty Aug. 7 to seven second-degree felony charges of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.

Haught has been a registered sex offender since his two convictions, one in 1987 for raping a 14-year-old in Franklin Township and another for gross sexual imposition involving a 7-year-old Akron girl.

"Past behavior indicates future behavior," Croce said before handing down the sentence. "While he didn't turn to flesh-and-blood victims, the videos described in the pre-sentence report were some of the most horrendous descriptions of abuse against children that I've ever heard of. It's disgusting."

Haught was adjudicated a Tier III sexual offender on Tuesday, meaning he will have to register with the Summit County Sheriff's office monthly for the rest of his life, if he is released from prison.

Assistant county Prosecutor Brian Stano successfully argued for a significant prison sentence because of Haught's criminal history.

"The worst can happen," Stano said. "Given this case and his history, it could happen."

Tuesday's hearing

Haught's attorney, Noah Munyer, argued that Haught served his sentence for both previous cases and should not be punished again for those crimes.

Munyer said during the hearing that Haught supports his wife and a 26-year-old stepdaughter with developmental disabilities.

"What he did is not socially acceptable or in line with common mores," Munyer said.

Haught apologized to Croce and said his wife and stepdaughter would be victimized by a prison sentence because they rely on his income.

"I let them down in ways I didn't foresee," Haught said.

Croce read from part of the pre-sentence investigation, which included a psycho-sexual evaluation that concluded Haught was a high risk for re-offending and that he is attracted to prepubescent and adolescent girls.

"He has a very high risk for sexually acting out in the future," Croce read.

The indictment says Haught possessed the child pornography on April 8. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigators raided Haught's home May 15 and determined Haught downloaded the material at his home.

Past convictions

Court records say Haught called a 14-year-old girl in August 1987 and told her he was going to her home, then showed up and attacked her.

Haught was found guilty of one count of rape at his 1987 trial in Summit County Common Pleas Court. He was released from prison in 2005, according to state prison records.

In the other case, he served 18 months in prison for "engaging in sexual conduct" with a 7-year-old girl on Sept. 11, 1985, according to court records. Haught was 28 at the time.