On Wednesday, a man indicted on multiple rape charges plead guilty to a single charge and will now be serving a long prison sentence.
In April, Steven J. Kelly, 49, of Ironton, was indicted on 30 counts of felony counts of rape of a person under the age of 18 after joint investigation was done by the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and the Lawrence County Drug and Major Crime Taskforce.
The case came to the attention of law enforcement after the victim’s mother found a video of Kelly and the teen victim on Kelly’s phone on March 12 and she filed a report was filed with the sheriff’s office.
During a hearing in the Lawrence County Common Pleas Court of Judge Christen Finley, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to the rape of a juvenile.
Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson said the guilty plea meant that the juvenile victim would not have to testify against Kelly at trial.
“We want to avoid having the child victim traumatized again,” he said. “He was indicted on 30 counts of rape, some of those charges did not have a life sentence. He plead guilty to one of the rape charges that did. He will be 74 years old before he can even talk to a parole board, so I think this is a good, appropriate sentence.”