HAMILTON — Kirk Kash, an ex-sheriff's deputy convicted of rape and kidnapping, has been sentenced to spend the next four years in prison.

        Imposing the sentence Tuesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court, Judge Matthew J. Crehan also ordered Mr. Kash, 38, of Colerain Township, to pay a $5,000 fine plus the costs of prosecution. The judge said the ex-officer's actions “damaged the reputations of police officers everywhere.”

Kash

        Judge Crehan found Mr. Kash guilty of forcing a 19-year-old Hamilton woman to perform oral sex on him Jan. 18 at the Forest Fair Mall in Fairfield. Mr. Kash was wearing his Butler County deputy's uniform while working an off-duty security job there. He later resigned from the sheriff's office.

        “I'm humiliated and shamed to be here today,” Mr. Kash told the judge, his head hanging. “I made the worst decision of my life that night.”

        To the victim, who sat in the courtroom's back row with her mother, Mr. Kash said: “I'm sorry for my behavior.” Mr. Kash also apologized to his wife and their 2-year-old son, then became too emotional to continue.

        His new lawyer, David J. Scacchetti of Cincinnati, asked the judge for a minimum sentence — three years — which “would still be a very huge penalty to pay,” given Mr. Kash's lack of a prior criminal record.

        The judge agreed Mr. Kash had led an “exemplary life” before this incident, as a family man, police officer and 14-year member of the U.S. Navy.

        However, Judge Crehan said Mr. Kash had been placed in a position of trust, “and used that office to intimidate the victim.” A minimum sentence would demean the seriousness of the offense, the judge said, noting the victim is undergoing counseling, has a hard time holding down a job and distrusts people — especially police officers.

        As Mr. Kash's former colleagues with the sheriff's department handcuffed him and led him away, his wife, Joanne, silently mouthed, “I love you.”

        She and the victim both declined to comment to reporters.

        Assistant Prosecutor Steve Tolbert said Judge Crehan carefully weighed the necessary factors and “put a lot of time and effort into the sentencing.”

        Mr. Scacchetti said: “We disagree with his (Judge Crehan's) findings at the trial,” where other lawyers represented Mr. Kash.

        But Mr. Scacchetti called Judge Crehan “a very fair man” and said the sentence was reasonable considering the seriousness of the crimes.

        Each of the two charges is a first-degree felony carrying a sentence of three to 10 years.

        Technically, Mr. Kash was sentenced to four years for rape and three years for kidnapping, but the sentences will not run consecutively.

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