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BUCYRUS, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—David Shepherd, a 32-year-old resident of Bucyrus, made a pretrial appearance in the Crawford County Common Pleas Court on Monday.
Instead of going through a pretrial hearing, Shepherd admitted his guilt to three counts of rape.
The disturbing case involves the rape and abuse of his girlfriend’s children, with the abuse allegedly starting in December 2022 while Shepherd and the children lived with their maternal grandmother in Mansfield.
The abuse worsened when Shepherd relocated the children to Bucyrus, where he had sole custody of them and was reportedly unemployed.
The mother of the children, currently serving time in prison, alerted the Bucyrus Police Department about Shepherd’s admission of sexual abuse towards the children via computer text.
She made a call to Shepherd from prison. Their conversation was recorded on a protected line providing crucial evidence for police.
The Bucyrus police obtained a search warrant for Shepherd’s residence on South Sandusky Street.
When Shepherd didn’t answer the door, law enforcement had to use a battering ram to gain entry. Shepherd was found coming up the basement stairs and willingly admitted to knowing why the police were there.
During questioning in his kitchen, Shepherd confessed to the sexual abuse of both children, including acts of digital and oral penetration. He also admitted to attempting vaginal and anal penetration on the nine-year-old victim.
In light of these heinous crimes, Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold handed down the maximum sentence to Shepherd. He will serve three terms of 15 years to life, totaling 45 years in prison before being permitted to try for parole.