Prosecutor: Rapes of UC students in 1990s 'planned and calculated.' Man wore mask, gloves
The man who prosecutors say raped three University of Cincinnati students and a fourth woman in the mid-1990s is now 62 years old.
He has numerous medical issues, including heart problems, diverticular disease and spinal cord compression.
On Tuesday, Stoney Brown’s attorney, Mike Allen, asked a judge to reduce his bond, which was set at $4 million after Brown was arrested in May in connection with the decades-old crimes.
Allen said Brown hasn’t been receiving all the medication he requires at the county jail. He also described Brown, who retired early this year after three decades with the city of Cincinnati’s engineering department, as a lifelong resident of the city.
But Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Gus Leon said Brown – who is alleged to have worn a mask and gloves during the attacks – had avoided prosecution for 25 years.
The attacks, Leon said, were “planned and calculated.” He said Brown remains a danger to the community.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Elizabeth Callan agreed, keeping Brown’s bond at $4 million.
“You have told me nothing today that would change my mind,” the judge told Allen.
All four women were attacked in their homes in the Clifton area. According to court documents, two of the attacks happened in August 1995 and October 1995. The other two happened in June 1996 and July 1996.
Brown was in his late-30s at the time. Allen said Brown's only previous contact with the criminal justice system was a misdemeanor conviction many years ago. It was for voyeurism, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say that in the four attacks Brown entered the homes of women he didn’t know, threatened them with a knife and sexually assaulted them. One of the women was attacked as her young child lay next to her, prosecutors said.
Prosecutor Joe Deters, who was in the courtroom for Tuesday’s hearing, has previously said ancestry websites led investigators to Brown.
Police recovered DNA from the crime scenes. In 2008, to keep the case from expiring because of the statute of limitations, prosecutors took it to a grand jury, which indicted a John Doe with a specific DNA profile on charges including rape involving the four women.
Documents filed in a civil case related to Brown’s dismissal in 2003 from the Department of Public Services say he was terminated for bringing a pellet gun to work. Documents also say his fellow employees “had expressed fear of him.”
A judge, however, reinstated Brown, saying his dismissal was “arbitrary, capricious or unsupported by…the evidence.”
Brown did not speak during Tuesday’s hearing. He is charged with rape, kidnapping and aggravated burglary.