Warren man convicted of 12 counts of raping stepgranddaughter over 4 years


By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

When he is sentenced April 28, Rick Benchea is expected to learn he will never spend another day as a free man.

Jurors found him guilty Thursday of 12 counts of rape and two counts of gross sexual imposition after deliberating only about an hour in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

He was convicted of raping his stepgranddaughter when she was between 8 and 11 years old and molesting her when she was 7 dating back to 2009 and ending last summer, when she told authorities.

Each rape count carries a penalty of life in prison. Some carry a possible sentence of life with no parole, and others carry a penalty of life with parole eligibility after 25 years.

For Jamie Fellows, Benchea’s stepdaughter and mother of the girl, now 12, that kind of sentence will be a huge relief because it will mean he “will never see the light of day.”

“I’m so relieved. When you put it in 12 strangers’ hands, you never know,” she said of the jury of seven women and five men.

“I’m so happy. I was so scared,” the girl said of the verdict after Benchea, 62, was led back to the county jail, where he has been since charges were filed last summer. “His defense attorney called me a liar, and I don’t lie ever,” she said.

The girl testified the abuse started out as touching over her clothes when she was 7 and progressed to rape. It generally occurred in the living room or Benchea’s bedroom in the small home where she lived with Benchea, her grandmother, her aunt, her brother and her cousin.

Benchea’s defense attorney, Edward J. Hartwig, said the girl’s story was inconsistent on several points, that no one else living in the house suspected anything was occurring, and the girl didn’t demonstrate any of the characteristics of a rape victim.

He suggested that Fellows had reasons to coach the girl to lie — to get custody of the girl and her brother back from Benchea and his wife.

When Benchea’s wife, Debra, testified Wednesday, she said she thought it wouldn’t be possible for the rapes to have occurred without her knowing because she’s a light sleeper and gets up multiple times at night, when some of the rapes were said to have taken place.

“She was willing to say anything,” Jamie Fellows said of her mother.

“I’m just glad the jury believed [the girl],” said Gabe Wildman, the assistant county prosecutor who handled the case. “We believed her. I’m happy I could be a part of telling her story.”

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