Father sentenced 50 years for raping sons

A Troy father already sentenced to 60 years to life in Miami County for raping his sons was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years to life in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

Wearing blue jail clothing, Kenneth H. Brandt, 40, said “No, Ma’am” when asked if he wanted to comment before sentencing in front of Judge Mary Katherine Huffman.

Brandt was sentenced to 25 years apiece for one count of child rape under 13 years old and one count of complicity to commit rape. He will not face fees or restitution since he’s been declared indigent. This sentence will run concurrently with the Miami County case. Brandt is required to register as a Tier III sex offender in the event he is ever paroled.

“It’s very disturbing. It’s been disturbing to my office, very disturbing to the investigators that did the great investigation in this case,” Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said. “We would hope, and we expect, that this defendant will die in the penitentiary. That’s what we would expect.”

Huffman told Brandt that he committed “the most despicable abuse of your own child” and that he “violated the most important relationship we can have in life — between a parent and a child.”

The sentencing was the final one connected with the child-sex ring discovered in early 2012 by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Brandt, Dayton’s Patrick Rieder, 32, and Beavercreek’s Jason Zwick, 30, all reached plea agreements. Brandt and Rieder pleaded guilty while Zwick pleaded no contest and filed an appeal.

Brandt was indicted on three counts of rape of a child younger than 13 years old and four counts of complicity to commit rape of a child younger than 13 years old. Brandt pleaded guilty Dec. 20 in Montgomery County.

Brandt was sentenced Dec. 17 in Miami County to at least 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to six counts of raping his two adopted sons and a third boy he was in the process of adopting. Brandt had agreed to testify for the prosecution if Zwick or Rieder had gone to trial.

“I think this was a positive (sentencing) result for everybody,” said Brandt’s attorney, Nicholas Gounaris. “I know the state is going to be happy with the conviction and my client is happy that the children didn’t have to go through any of the trials.”

Rieder pleaded guilty Feb. 1 to 27 felony counts and agreed to a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. He had been indicted on four counts of rape against a child younger than 13 years old and more than 75 counts of child pornography. Investigators said Brandt brought one of his children to Dayton for a sexual encounter with Rieder.

Zwick pleaded no contest on Jan. 8 to one count of raping one of Brandt’s sons and was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. Authorities said Zwick answered Brandt’s Craigslist ad for taboo sex.

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