Tuesday, March 28, 2000
Child-sex case ends with plea
Billand sent to prison
BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BATAVIA — A former foster parent accused of sex crimes involving Butler County boys who stayed with him in Clermont County in the 1980s pleaded no contest Monday to four counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.
Stephen Billand, 51, was to have been tried in April on 24 counts of pandering obscenity, four rape charges and four counts of gross sexual imposition. He was sentenced to 20 to 60 years in prison on the four second-degree felony charges by Judge William Stapleton in Clermont County Common Pleas Court.
Clermont County Prosecutor Don White said he thinks the sentence will keep Mr. Billand behind bars for the rest of his life.
“Hopefully, this guy will never be on the street again,” said Mr. White, who lauded Tristate and California authorities for their cooperation in the case. “This is the type of guy we want to stay in prison for as long as possible.”
Mr. Billand appeared in court Monday.
Last month, Judge Stapleton dismissed 11 child-sex charges against Mr. Billand. He said time limits expired because state or local officials knew about the crimes but failed to prosecute them in the 1980s.
Although the offenses are alleged to have occurred from 1985-89, Mr. Billand was indicted in 1998 after incriminating photos surfaced at his home in California. He moved there from Clermont County in 1991.
Mr. Billand also faces two dozen California sex charges. Victoria Reden, a detective with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, said Monday the San Diego County's district attorney is working with authorities in Clermont County to eventually return Mr. Billand to San Diego to face the charges there.
But, she said, that may have to wait until Mr. Billand exhausts his appeals in Ohio.
Ms. Reden began investigating Mr. Billand in 1997 after two teen-age boys in California reported he had sodomized them at gunpoint.
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