Friday, April 28, 2000
Convicted murderer's rape trial gets under way
Girl, woman claim Glass molested them
By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — Nine months after being released from a Florida prison, convicted murderer Robert L. Glass could be headed back to the penitentiary — this time on sex charges.
Mr. Glass, whose trial opened in Warren County Common Pleas Court on Thursday, is accused of molesting a 17-year-old girl and a 32-year-old woman, both from Hamilton Township.
Mr. Glass, 42, a Hamilton Township native, is charged with two counts each of gross sexual imposition and rape.
Incident in truck
Mr. Glass was arrested in late January after the girl, who is now 18, reported the alleged incidents to a teacher at Little Miami High School.
She later told police that Mr. Glass had molested her numerous times in her home.
The 32-year-old woman, who is a friend of the girl's family, testified Thursday that Mr. Glass forced himself on her in her truck on New Year's Eve when he accompanied her to return a video tape.
“When he was doing it he said he loved me,” the woman told Judge Neal Bronson, who is hearing the case without a jury.
The woman said Mr. Glass pinned her arms back and she couldn't resist him be cause she was afraid.
Claims consensual sex
Mr. Glass' lawyer, Conrad Kircher, implied that the incident was consensual and that the woman had a crush on Mr. Glass.
That's also what Mr. Glass said when he gave police a taped statement admitting sexual incidents with the teen-aged girl.
In the statement, which was played in court Thursday, Mr. Glass admitted to township Detective Andy Roosa that he fondled the girl on several occasions and once exposed himself to her. However, he said the girl agreed to the sex acts, which he characterized as “horseplay.”
Mr. Glass is expected to testify when the trial resumes today.
Served 10 years
According to the Florida Department of Correction, Mr. Glass served nearly 10 years on murder and robbery charges for beating a 43-year-old Jacksonville man to death in June 1989 in a drug deal.
He was sentenced to 30 years, but was released from a minimum security prison in Quincy, Fla., on July 7.
Mr. Glass was charged with criminal sexual conduct in Minnesota in 1986, but details of that case were not available.
Mr. Glass also has convictions for burglary and shoplifting, Florida authorities said.
Kevin Aldridge contributed to this report.
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