Former Howland man to stay in prison for raping children

COLUMBUS — John Whisonant, formerly of Niles Road in Howland, will stay in an Ohio prison for at least four more years for raping four children.

The Ohio Parole Board met Tuesday in Columbus for a parole hearing for Whisonant, 55, who has served 25 years of a 21-to-75-year prison term. The board said Whisonant will be eligible for his next parole hearing in February 2014.

Whisonant was admitted to the Ohio prison system in 1985 after being convicted in Trumbull County of four counts of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition for acts committed against children age 9, 7, 6 and 5.

Whisonant committed the rapes in the fall of 1984 and in 1981.

The offenses came to light in February 1985 when one of the children reported the offenses to a teacher after watching a film at school on child molestation.