CHILD RAPE Man, 60, indicted on 24 counts

YOUNGSTOWN -- A Mahoning County grand jury handed up a multicount indictment against a Youngstown man accused of raping two young girls and having sexual contact with another girl.
The grand jury indicted Ronald E. Brooks, 60, of East LaClede Avenue, on Thursday on four counts of gross sexual imposition and 20 counts of rape. Eight of the rape counts include language that calls for life imprisonment upon conviction.
The grand jury also indicted Brooks for being a convicted felon in illegal possession of a weapon.
Allegations
The indictment says that on four occasions, beginning in January 2000 and continuing to December 2003, Brooks had sexual contact with a girl who was 9 at the time.
The charge of gross sexual imposition for a child under 13 is a third-degree felony, which carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.
The indictment also says that seven times between May 1982 and May 1988, Brooks raped a girl from the time she was 7 until she was 13, and that he committed the act under force or threat of force. Under Ohio law, rape of a child under 13 carries a life sentence upon conviction.
Brooks is accused of raping the same girl 12 other times from May 1988 through 1995. The maximum penalty for rape is 10 years in prison. He also is accused of raping another girl, also under 13, sometime between April 1994 and April 1995.