By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The Crawford County justice system landed a hard one-two punch on the county’s dark underbelly of sex-related crimes involving minors Monday.
Fifty-six-year-old Donald Fisher, of Bucyrus, pleaded guilty to felony 1 rape with specifications in Crawford County Common Pleas Court. The statute Fisher was charged under is specific to those crimes in which the victim is less than 10 years of age. In this case, the victim was five years old.
Leuthold sentenced Fisher to 15 years to life in prison as part of the recommended sentence. Though Fisher would have to serve at least 15 years before he would be eligible for parole, he would be subject to five years on post-release control if granted early release. He would also have to register as a Tier III sexual offender with lifetime mandatory reporting.
Fisher claimed in court that he did not want to drag the matter out.
“I know what I did is wrong,” Fisher said as he sat quietly in his seat. “Maybe someday, maybe they’ll forgive me for my actions.”
“It’s not my job to forgive you,” Leuthold replied before accusing Fisher of befriending the victim’s family, earning their trust, and taking advantage of the young victim.
“We do not tolerate people exploiting our children,” said Leuthold, a refrain he has used often the past few months as child pornography cases made frequent appearances in his courtroom. “It’s just not tolerated period.”
Fisher had two prior felony convictions, including felony 3 gross sexual imposition in 1988.
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Thomas Sibbalds also received 15 years in prison, though for vastly different charges.
The 56-year-old Bucyrus
man pleaded guilty to five counts of pandering sexually oriented materials involving a minor and 10 counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor, all fourth-degree felonies. Sibbalds was sentenced to 12 months in prison on each count to be served consecutively for a total of 15 years.
The prosecutor’s office dismissed 50 counts of second-degree felony pandering sexually oriented materials involving minors in exchange for Sibbalds’ guilty plea.
Sibbalds will have to register as a Tier II sexual offender for 25 years.
Assistant prosecutor Ryan Hoovler called the agreement an “adequate and just prison sentence.”
“The truth is, Mr. Sibbalds, when you download, when you share, it’s easy for you to say ‘I’m not hurting anybody.’ But people are being hurt,” said Leuthold. “If there aren’t people looking at it, there wouldn’t be a market for it.”
Leuthold, noting Sibbalds never contacted anyone and never solicited minors, called the images “nauseating” and likened Sibbalds’ actions to taking pleasure in a child being hit by a car. He hoped Sibbalds’ punishment would be a deterrent for others looking to abuse children.
“This is absolutely the wrong county to exploit, endanger, or abuse children,” Leuthold said.
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