CINCINNATI — A woman who provided her "serial sexual predator" cousin with access to a toddler he subsequently abused was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison.
Ciera Richter had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce child pornography. Prosecutors said her cousin, Jason Fletcher, offered Richter money for access to the 2-year-old girl while she babysat the child in her Dayton home.
Fletcher brought cough medicine to sedate the child and took photos of her while she was naked in the bath, and also filmed himself touching her as she cried and slept, according to court documents.
Ahead of her sentencing, Richter denied being paid for access but testified that she was using marijuana and methamphetamines that night.
"If I wasn’t high or getting high, this would have never happened," she said.
In addition to the prison sentence, a federal judge recommended that Richter should participate in substance abuse treatment, residential drug abuse treatment, G.E.D. and cosmetology apprenticeship programs. She will spend 10 years under supervision after she's released from prison.
Fletcher was sentenced to 35 years in prison in January. Prosecutors said he has a long history "of sexually perverse behavior." He was previously convicted of importuning and classified as a sex offender for an incident involving a 13-year-old.
"The defendant is an unrepentant, untreatable sexual predator," Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Gaffney wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "The public must be protected from him. If the defendant is released from prison, he will sexually abuse children."
