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NKY man, 23, pleads guilty in sex sting case Chris Mayhew
Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Former CovCath student and basketball player Joseph Eubank was arrested in May. FOX19 NOW
Former CovCath player pleads guilty 17-year-old charged as adult in rape, sex abuse case Chris Mayhew
Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
A negotiated guilty plea deal by a former Covington Catholic High School basketball player will enable the victims, four teenage girls, to avoid the publicity of a trial. Joseph Eubank pleaded guilty in court Jan. 15 to one count of rape and three sex abuse charges. The 17-year-old was charged as an adult in the rape of a teenage girl and sex abuse of three others. He was indicted Nov. 7, 2018, according to court documents. “Avoiding publicity that inevitably surrounds a case like this was very important to some of our victims, but I don’t think anyone in their right mind would look forward to testifying in open court about events that are so painful,” said Kenton County Common-
The terms of the plea deal are that Eubank will be sentenced to 25 years in prison. The sentence is based upon 10 years on the rape charge and fi ve years on each of the three sex abuse charges. wealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders of the plea deal. Sanders said that each of the four charges pertains to a diff erent victim. Each of those victims, he said, are teenage girls. The indictment states the incidents occurred on or between Feb. 1, 2017, and March 31, 2019. Eubank was 14-to-16 years old at the time, Sanders said. “There are no winners in this case,” Sanders said. “A young man is going to jail for a very long time and several
young women are going to be dealing with the emotional scars of his crimes for the rest of their lives.” The terms of the plea deal are that Eubank will be sentenced to 25 years in prison. The sentence is based upon 10 years on the rape charge and fi ve years on each of the three sex abuse charges. Sanders said he will be eligible for parole after 8.5 years in prison. The lengthy prison sentence is deserved because of the number of victims and the defendant’s conduct, Sanders said. “It was done after extensive consultation with the victims in the case and spares the victims from testifying in an open courtroom and brings a quick resolution to the matter,” Sanders said of the plea deal. Kenton Circuit Court Judge Gregory M. Bartlett will have formal sentencing March 23 after a sex off ender evaluation is conducted, Sanders said. The guilty plea shows victims in sex abuse cases can confi dently decide to come forward, he said. “They will be taken seriously and we will fi ght for justice on their behalf.” Fox19 NOW contributed to this story.
A 23-year-old Independence man has pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful use of an electronic device to procure a minor for sexual off enses, according to a Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney release. The relase said Kenton County Police Detective Brian Jones advised Taeylor L. Enzweiler in a social media conversation that he was a 14-year-old boy. It stated Enzweiler contacted Jones’ undercover child persona by sending a selfi e and Jones responded as a fi ctional child. Enzweiler responded within one minute of that response by sending a photo of his geniEnzweiler tals. Jones agreed to meet up with Enzweiler after the Independence man persisted in pursuing a sex meeting with the fi ctional child, according to the release Police arrested Enzweiler May 1, 2019, at the entrance to MiddeltonMills Park in Independence, according to a police report. He was released from jail May 2 on a $5,000 bond. Enzweiler agreed to speak with Jones at the scene after he was arrested, according to the report. The meetup and conversation happened over an online dating app. Enzweiler told police he thought he was there to meet a 14-year-old boy with the purpose of sexual activity, according to the police report. The 23-year-old will have to register as a sex off ender for 20 years, and is not eligible for probation under Kentucky law. The charge carries a potential sentence of between one to fi ve years in prison. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily Arnzen, who leads the offi ce’s cyber crimes against children division, did not off er Enzweiler a plea deal, according to the release. “We’re ready to see what kind of prison sentence a jury thinks is appropriate, so we’re not making off ers to online predators anymore,” she said. The guilty plea puts the length of the sentence in the hands of a judge. Enzweiler is scheduled to appear before Kenton Circuit Court Judge Gregory Bartlett for sentencing at 9:30 a.m. March 13.
Cincinnati tops Ohio’s biggest cities in hate crime rate Chris Mayhew
Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Statistics collected by the FBI from local police agencies show that Cincinnati has the highest rate of crimes motivated by or related to hate amongst Ohio’s largest cities, according to new federal statistics.
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Cincinnati’s 9.93 incidents per 100,000 population in 2018 is slightly higher than the 9.87 incidents per 100,000 in Cleveland and 8.6 per 100,000 in Columbus for 2018, according to the latest FBI statistics. Cincinnati’s rate did decrease 26.8 percent from 2017’s rate of 13.7 incidents per 100,000 in 2017. Cincinnati had 30 reported hate
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crimes in 2018 compared to 41 hate crimes in 2017. The FBI’s hate crime website sets a high bar for the methodology of when law enforcement shall report crimes as hate. “Only when a law enforcement investigation reveals suffi cient evidence to lead a reasonable and prudent person to conclude that the off ender’s actions
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were motivated, in whole or in part, by his or her bias, should an agency report an incident as a hate crime,” states the FBI’s website. Of the 30 2018, incidents, 24 were motivated by race, ethnicity or ancestry, according to the FBI report. There were four instances of religion and two inSee HATE CRIME, Page 2A
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