Shannon Bobst, 22, of Wheelersburg, pleaded to and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison Monday for sexually assaulted a young girl last year. He will also have to register as a Tier III sex offender for the rest of his life.
Submitted photo
A year after the original charges were filed, a Wheelersburg man charged with the rape of a young girl has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Shannon Bobst, 22, was charged with four counts of rape, all first-degree felonies, and two charges of gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony. In addition to the prison sentence, Bobst will also be required to register as a Tier III sex offender/child victim offender for the rest of his life.
Bobst’s four-day jury trial was to begin on April 15 before Scioto County Common Pleas Judge Howard H. Harcha III. With a plea, he avoids this.
Scioto County Prosecutor Shane Tieman said he and his team took the age of the victim and the feelings of the family into account during the plea bargaining process. He also said, again due to the age of the victim, that he would not be discussing details of the case.
“At 15 years, the parole board may consider parole but such is certainly not guaranteed,” he said. “It’s important to note that this plea alleviated the need for the child victim to be subjected to further trauma by having to testify in a jury trial about what happened. Testifying in a trial is traumatic enough for an adult, let alone a child and we try to balance the best interests of justice with the additional harm to the child.”
It was Scioto County Children’s Services that originally notified investigators that a child younger than 10 of the incidents had been assaulted.
Bobst is currently lodged at the Scioto County Jail.
Reach Lori McNelly at [email protected] or at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1928. © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
