BATAVIA - Minutes before she was arrested Thursday, a Clermont County mother said she did not prostitute her 6- and 11-year-old daughters in exchange for beer, drugs and cigarettes.
During a telephone interview from her mother's Felicity home, the 33-year-old woman told The Enquirer she was innocent of the rape charges filed against her.
"I wouldn't hurt any kids, and not my own," said the Bethel woman, whom The Enquirer is not naming to protect the identities of her daughters.
Prosecutors said that in 1993 and 1994, the woman offered her two daughters - then roughly 2 and 7 years old - for sex, often receiving alcohol and drugs as payment. She allegedly allowed the girls' fathers and their friends to have sexual intercourse with and perform sex acts on the children.
The woman frequently cried during Thursday's interview, saying that she feared her daughters might have been abused, but not by her. She also said if she knew the girls were being mistreated, she would never have allowed it.
The woman said she was hurt that anyone would think she could do this to her children, whom she has been raising virtually alone. "I raised my kids myself, and then they do me like this," she said, referring to authorities.
About 30 minutes after the Thursday afternoon interview, the woman was arrested at her mother's Felicity home on six counts of rape and two counts of felonious sexual penetration. .
A 36-year-old Amelia man, the father of the 11-year-old girl, also has been charged with two counts of rape.
A Bethel man, the father of the younger girl and the boyfriend of the woman charged in this case, previously was questioned about the sexual abuse. He committed suicide July 22, a few weeks after authorities interrogated him, Bethel police said.
Law enforcement and child welfare workers find the case repulsive, and one of the most serious cases of alleged abuse in the county's history.
Prosecutor Don White said the girls were frequently subjected to sexual abuse in their homes, and often driven to the home of their abusers in the Bethel and Felicity areas, a 45-minute drive east of Cincinnati.
"It is one of the most upsetting cases I've seen," said Anne Arbaugh, staff attorney for Clermont County's children's services. Along with the girls, the woman's sons, ages 15 and 8, were placed in foster care earlier this year, before the sexual abuse charges arose. Children's services wouldn't comment on the case, and the woman said she did not know why her sons and daughters were taken away from her.
While in foster care, the girls, who are in separate homes, told either their children's services caseworker or their foster parents about the alleged abuse. The county prosecutor and sheriff were notified and an investigation was launched. Authorities say the boys were not abused.
Once in therapy, the girls began to elaborate on the alleged abuse, Ms. Arbaugh said.
"They're very credible and consistent," Ms. Arbaugh said of the girls and their stories.
Relatives of the woman said they can't believe she would commit such a heinous crime.
"I couldn't picture that happening," said her sister-in-law, when she learned details of the allegations.
For now, the woman and man charged in the case are in the Clermont County Jail on the rape charges and were expected to appear for a bond hearing in Municipal Court at 1 p.m. today.
