Rapist to spend 33 years in prison

The defendant got the
maximum penalty on
three rape charges.

WARREN — WARREN — Jeffrey L. Town, a 48-year-old Newton Falls man convicted of raping an exotic dancer in his apartment last December, was sentenced to 33 years in prison Monday.

Asked by Judge Peter Kontos of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court whether he had any anything to say before sentencing, Town said he was “sorry that the event did occur.”

He added that he respected the jury’s decision, though he disagreed with its verdict.

The victim did not speak.

A jury convicted Town of three counts of rape, one of kidnapping and one of gross sexual imposition, though the sentences for the kidnapping and gross sexual imposition will be served at the same time as the rape sentences.

Town received the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each of the rape counts, plus an additional year on each rape count for being a repeat violent offender.

He will have to register as a sexually oriented offender for 10 years if he ever leaves prison. He will be 80 years old when his sentence is complete. Judge Kontos noted that the sentence is for “actual time” in prison.

Judge Kontos listened to evidence last week about an incident that occurred in 1984 that landed Town in prison one previous time. Judge Kontos ruled that the previous crime qualified him as a repeat violent offender.

Town was sentenced to two three-to-15-year jail terms in 1985 in separate cases with the terms to run at the same time. He had pleaded guilty to kidnapping and felonious assault for forcing a female acquaintance in 1984 to have sex with him at his home in Bazetta Township, where he was living at the time.

Two days later, Town confronted the woman’s boyfriend in the victim’s front yard in Champion Township and shot him three times, testimony showed.

During a trial in September, the 20-year-old victim of Town’s most recent crimes testified that she went to Town’s apartment to help clean up his residence when he attacked her, cut her with a knife, tied her up and raped her three times. She testified she was frightened Town would kill her if he didn’t agree to have sex with him.

Before sentencing Monday, Town’s attorney, John Juhasz, noted the cost of keeping someone in prison is $25,000 per year and said Town had “responded favorably” to being incarcerated the first time by not committing additional crimes for many years.

David Toepfer, an assistant county prosecutor, countered that Town poses a risk of committing future crimes against women because he “did the same thing 20 years ago.”

runyan@vindy.com