SOUTH LEBANON, Ohio — A 37-year-old man has been sentenced to time in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including rape, on Thursday.
The Warren County Prosecutor's Office said Robert DeWeese pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping with sexual motivation specification, gross sexual imposition and abduction. He was sentenced to 30-35 and a half years in prison.
According to a release from the prosecutor's office, DeWeese sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl in the restroom of a South Lebanon store on February 6. The girl was in the store with her mother and had an accident. Her mother then brought her to a family restroom and saw her daughter needed a change of clothes.
The mother had the girl lock the door to the family restroom, the release said, and told the girl not to open the door until she returned with clothes from the store they were in. The mother showed the girl a "special knock" and said not to open the door until she heard that knock.
The release said DeWeese was "eavesdropping with his ear next to the family restroom door" and heard the mother describe the "special knock."
Once the mother left the restroom, the release said DeWeese did the "special knock," causing the girl to open the door. When she realized it was not her mother, the girl quickly tried to close the door, but DeWeese got into the restroom and sexually assaulted her, according to the release.
The girl used a technique she learned in scouting to scream, which startled DeWeese and caused him to leave the store, the release said.
Warren County Sheriff's deputies found DeWeese at a relative's house and arrested him.
According to the prosecutor's office, DeWeese had been arrested for sex crimes in multiple other counties in the past. He was released from prison just three days before he sexually assaulted the girl in South Lebanon, the release said.
