Man sentenced to 28 years for rape and kidnapping

WARREN

Kevin T. Johns, 24, of Cincinnati and Warren, was sentenced to 28 years in prison Tuesday for raping one woman and kidnapping another April 13, 2013.

Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court cited Johns’ earlier criminal activity in sentencing him to serve consecutive prison sentences, calling Johns a career criminal.

The women testified during a trial before Judge Logan that Johns kidnapped them from a house on Woodbine Avenue Southeast, then forced one of them to drive him to a house on Kenilworth Avenue Southeast, then raped one of the women in the back seat of the car while the other was ordered to stand near the car.

Johns then took their cell phones and fled, the women said.

Johns, however, testified that he and his friend, Taemarr Walker, 24, of Warren, knew both women and had sex with them at a motel, but he couldn’t give the name of the motel or the day that happened.

Walker was not available to verify Johns’ story because he was killed Oct. 19, 2013, in a confrontation with a Warren police officer.

Johns testified he met Walker while they were in prison together and Johns had come to Warren in early 2013 to stay with Walker. Johns said he’d never been to Warren before that trip.

Chris Becker, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, told jurors in closing arguments of the trial that Johns’ crimes against the women resulted from a “setup” committed by Walker in which Walker told one of the women to meet him at the Woodbine address knowing that Walker would not be there but Johns would be.

Becker said the reason Walker set up the women is because they had money. The rape victim and Walker were friends, and Walker had the woman’s name tattooed on his body, according to testimony.

But Johns testified that he had consensual sex with her in the same hotel room while Walker was having sex with the other victim in the case. Johns said the women made up the story about the rape and kidnapping because of a dispute over money.