WARREN COUNTY, Ohio — Two former partners convicted in a disturbing sex abuse case involving a 5-year-old child and animals were sentenced to years behind bars in Warren County.
Watch scenes from the courtroom below:
Judge Robert Peeler sentenced Tony McCollister to 15 years to life in prison for rape, with the possibility of parole after 15 years. McCollister also received sentences on additional counts and will be required to register as a sex offender.
Erica Grove, who was convicted on lesser charges, was sentenced to 84 months in prison for child endangering, gross sexual imposition and sexual conduct with an animal. She will be required to register as a sex offender for 25 years.
Prosecutors asked the court to impose the maximum sentence against the pair.
“We don’t ask this court lightly for this kind of sentence,” a prosecutor told the judge. “We know that it’s reserved for the most heinous, vile acts that exist in the state of Ohio, and I would submit that this is exactly what Mr. McCollister engaged in.”
Both McCollister and Grove became emotional during the sentencing hearing as the victim’s father shared a statement on behalf of his daughter before the defendants addressed the court.
“I’m trying to own everything I’ve done,” McCollister said. “A lot of it is very confusing. I was not moral. I didn’t recognize it at the time,” he added.
“And I deserve to be punished,” Grove said. “I humbly ask for that punishment to be in grace.”
The case centered heavily on thousands of text messages exchanged between the former couple. During their bench trials, the defense argued that many of the conversations were rooted in fantasy but Grove said the manipulation and abused she suffered at the hands of McCollister was very real.
“The confusion, the manipulation that alters your sense of reality was absolutely real,” Grove told the court. “It is real, and it is paralyzing. It clouds your ability to make decisions," she shared.
“The defense keeps making this argument about Tony versus Erica,” a prosecutor said. “It’s never been about that. They’re both deviant. They both engaged in these acts together.”
In determining the sentences, the judge cited several factors, including the defendants’ mental health histories, their lack of prior criminal histories and their cooperation with investigators.
Both defendants have 30 days to appeal their convictions and sentences.
