Rapist recorded on Snapchat sentenced to 5 years in prison

PORT CLINTON - A Marblehead man was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to rape in which a video of the August incident was recorded by the victim and shared on the social media application Snapchat.

James D. Allen, 78, was sentenced on Thursday by Judge Bruce Winters in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court.

Allen is also required to register as a sex offender every 90 days for life and will be subject to five years of post-release control if released from prison on parole. He was given credit for 123 days served in the Ottawa County Detention Facility. 

Allen pleaded guilty in October to first-degree felony rape and admitted to the incident, including providing alcohol to the 20-year-old victim, substantially impairing her ability to consent.

Allen claimed in court that because he also consumed a lot of alcohol, he does not remember everything that happened, but said he later saw the video. He said he was not aware at the time that it was being recorded.

“Once I was shown the video by my attorney, I realized that it was completely true,” Allen said Thursday. “At that point, I took full responsibility for my actions and I still do. There’s no doubt in my mind that I committed a crime against (the victim) and there’s no justification for it.”

According to the Danbury Township Police Department, authorities were first called to perform a welfare check at a township residence in the early morning hours of Aug. 8.

Detective Sgt. Mark Meisler said everything initially appeared to be fine when police first arrived for the welfare check.

Meisler said police later started receiving information from as far away as Texas regarding a possible sex offense at the residence.

Two videos recorded on Snapchat, a cellphone application for sharing image and video messages, were forwarded to the Danbury Township police.

Meisler described the videos depictions as very “clear.”

He said that, based on the videos, police returned to the residence around 6 a.m. Aug. 8 and arrested Allen without incident. The victim also was interviewed at that time.

Ottawa County Prosecutor James VanEerten said the victim agreed to Allen's plea deal, which carried a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison. 

VanEerten noted that the charges dismissed as part of the plea agreement — an additional count of rape and two counts of sexual battery — were considered allied offense, meaning they resulted from the same criminal conduct and could only result in a single conviction.

Following his guilty plea in October, Allen and his attorney, James Popil, requested he undergo a physical and mental health examination prior to sentencing, according to court records.

Winters denied the request in December and a motion to reconsider was filed by the defense this week, but it was again denied on Thursday.

Popil said in the motion seeking a physical and mental health exam that Allen "may have signs or symptoms of Alzheimer's disease."

He noted that Allen had no prior criminal record prior to this incident and asked the court to impose the mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison.

“I believe that any greater sentence other than the minimum mandatory sentence will in essence be a death sentence,” Popil said. “It’s probably very debatable whether he will survive even a three-year sentence in prison with his family history.”

Allen said Thursday that none of his immediate relatives had lived past the age of 80, including his parents and grandparents. He said each of them died from something other than natural causes, such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer. 

Allen would be 83 when his prison sentence is concluded. 

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