BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BATAVIA -- The former operator of a Clermont County foster home has been indicted on 43 sex-related charges involving minors, including 11 counts of rape.
Clermont County Prosecutor Don White said he expects Stephen P. Billand, 50, who was arrested in California in May, will be returned here after the disposition of federal drug transportation charges that led to his arrest.
While Union Township investigators in the late 1980s had information that led them to suspect Mr. Billand was involved in sex-related offenses, they did not have enough evidence to make an arrest, Mr. White said.
Mr. Billand moved to California in 1991, taking some of his victims with him, California law enforcement officials said.
"In San Diego, they discovered photographs during (Mr. Billand's) arrest and a search . . . of a number of foster children he had in his home when he lived in Clermont County," Mr. White said. "That led to our investigation with Union Township police."
He would not comment further about the photographs.
Mr. White said Mr. Billand operated a foster home off Ohio 125 between Withamsville and Amelia for boys between 8 and about 14 years old. The incidents for which he is charged occurred between April 1986 and August 1989.
Mr. Billand was licensed as a foster parent in Butler County and Northern Kentucky and was housing the boys in Clermont County. None is from Clermont County, Mr. White said.
Although the San Diego sheriff's office charged Mr. Billand with a felony of commercially producing child pornography and a misdemeanor charge of possession of child pornography, Mr. White said the evidence in Clermont County is the strongest.
But extradition cannot begin until federal drug charges are disposed of in California, Mr. White said. He could not estimate how long that might take. Among other things, he is accused of transporting 47 pounds of marijuana across the Mexican border in May 1997.
If he is found guilty on the 11 rape counts, Mr. Billand could face 10 to 25 years in prison on each, Mr. White said. The grand jury also brought eight charges of gross sexual imposition, 13 counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor and 11 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, Mr. White said.
