43
Man held in rape of 2-year-old girl
An assistant prosecutor said the victim is doing OK.
PERRY — A man faces up to life in prison if he’s convicted of raping a 27-month old girl last week at his home.
John Hudson, 22, of West Perry Street, was charged with rape Friday after he told authorities he “had a dream he was making love to the mother of the child.”
Judge Mark Frost of Columbiana County Municipal Court set Hudson’s bond at $5 million. He’s being held at the county jail.
Timothy McNicol, an assistant county prosecutor who handles sex cases, said of the victim, “She’s doing OK.”
She underwent surgery at Akron Children’s Hospital to repair her injuries and is still at that hospital, McNicol said Monday.
The mother of the child worked a shift from Wednesday evening into Thursday morning, according to Perry Township Police Chief Raymond Stone.
When she returned home, she noticed the injuries to the child and took her to Salem Community Hospital, Stone said.
The child was then taken to the Akron hospital Thursday afternoon, which notified local authorities.
The mother, 28, has three other children; they were not harmed, authorities said.
McNicol said the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation was called in to gather evidence at Hudson’s residence.
Stone said Hudson gave authorities his statement and was arrested.
McNicol said that the charge against Hudson will likely be presented to the grand jury that will be hearing cases this week.
He added that under a new state law that went into effect in January of this year, serious sex cases involving children age 10 and younger can result in a mandatory life sentence without parole.
This is not Hudson’s first brush with the law.
In 2006, Judge C. Ashley Pike of county Common Pleas Court sentenced Hudson to 180 days in jail for having sex with an underage girl.
Hudson had been found guilty of contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor.
He had been indicted for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a fourth-degree felony, for having intercourse with a teenage girl at a house in Salem on Jan. 29, 2005.
The victim and her family agreed to the reduced charge, which spared the girl from having to testify.
McNicol said that case involved a consensual relationship.
wilkinson@vindy.com.