6 months jail, 3 years probation for former Avon fire chief in child porn case

ELYRIA — Former Avon fire Chief Frank Root Jr. was taken out of a Lorain County Common Pleas courtroom to Lorain County Jail on Monday morning after being sentenced to six months in jail following his conviction for possessing child pornography depicting his son performing sexual acts as a teen. "Jesus Christ!" the 82-year-old shouted as he was led out of the courtroom by a sheriff's deputy. Judge Mark Betleski also sentenced the Avon resident to three years probation and labeled him a Tier II sex offender, who will be required to register his address with his local sheriff every 180 days for the next 25 years upon release from jail. Prosecutors elected to have Frank Root Jr. sentenced on the most serious charge, a fourth-degree felony, which does not carry a presumption of prison time under Ohio law. Betleski was limited by Ohio law to giving the elder Root a sentence of no more than 18 months in prison. The statute of limitations to charge Frank Root Jr. with any crimes of sexual assault or abuse alleged to have taken place against his son 40 years ago has long since run out. Defense attorney Denise Wilms had asked Betleski to reconsider the jail term and instead impose only the probation term. Her client, who also is a bar owner and U.S. Army veteran, recently had an aortic valve replacement and has other health concerns, she said. Betleski denied the request, saying Lorain County Jail's medical staff would take good care of her client and that he could be released on furlough if he required additional medical treatment. Frank Root Jr. pleaded no contest to two felony charges of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person and pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor or impaired person in March. Under Ohio law, neither charge carries a presumption that he would be sent to prison, and Wilms requested the judge sentence him to probation. A no contest plea means a defendant does not admit guilt but does admit the facts alleged, and retains some rights to appeal. Frank Root Jr. declined to make any statements on the record at sentencing. Prosecutors said Frank Root III was depicted in a sexual act in a Polaroid photo that was handed over to authorities in late 2019, after he obtained it from his father. He has accused his father of forcing him to have sexual intercourse with his own mother when he was a teenager, as well as grooming him to have sex with other adult women, bragging about his sexual abilities and otherwise causing him psychological harm as an adult. The Chronicle-Telegram typically does not name victims of sexual abuse, but Frank Root III, who succeeded his father as Avon fire chief before retiring earlier this year, previously gave the newspaper permission to use his name. Still, Betleski recently ruled Marsy's Law, an Ohio victim rights law, affirmed Frank Root III's right to speak at sentencing. That ruling came over Wilms' numerous objections to "any statements Frank Root III makes in regards to prior uncharged events that occurred 30-, 40-something years ago," she said in court Monday, referencing the allegations of child sexual abuse. Betleski said it still was appropriate for him to consider some aspects of those allegations, saying there was "still some relevance" to them and that they informed "why we're here today." In a victim impact statement delivered by remote video, Frank Root III told the court he never imagined being 55 years old and finding himself in his current situation. He said he began to have memories of childhood sexual abuse as he watched Dr. Christine Blasey Ford tell a U.S. Senate committee she was sexually assaulted in high school by Brett Kavanaugh, a nominee for associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court (Kavanaugh denied the allegations and was later confirmed by the U.S. Senate). "Small glimpses of abuse that happened to me as a child began to emerge in my mind. Memories rose to the surface that were painful and confusing," he said, and he felt "fear and shame." Frank Root III said he began to remember "how my own father, from the time I was 9 years old, would not only direct me and engage in incestuous sexual abuse, he would photograph it. Hardcore pornography was common in my childhood home and was viewed in my presence and was a part of the sexual abuse I endured at his hands." Fearing his father still had some of the photos, he said he "played into his perversion," approached his father and asked him for some of the old photos "in order to help my sex life." Secretly recording his father, Frank Root III said he asked for photos and was given the Polaroid. "In the recording my father admitted to me it was me as a child in the picture and that I must have been 15 or 16. Even more disgusting, my father admitted to me that he 'got excited' looking at the Polaroid 'just yesterday.'" ("That's a lie," Frank Root Jr. said out loud in court, in response to that specific allegation.) With what he said was "tangible proof" and "a recorded confession," Frank Root III went to authorities. "I am now free from the sexual abuse of my father," he said, adding that he still has "scars," PTSD, anxiety and depression and is in counseling with a psychologist specializing in the treatment of childhood sexual abuse victims. "I ask that he be held in prison like he held me." Wilms made frequent objections during Frank Root III's victim impact statement, but Betleski overruled all of them. Wilms also said Frank Root III told authorities he and his mother engaged in sexual activity "more than 100 times without my client even knowing it." He was never "silenced" nor "a victim," she said, and recorded his father secretly without the aid of law enforcement. Her client has "never admitted to taking this photo, nor to engaging in any sexual activities" with his son, she said. "We don't know how accurate these memories are," Wilms said. Calling Frank Root III's words "powerful," Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Chris Pierre told Betleski that "no matter how many times they object, no matter how many times they try to silence the victim, the victim is not silenced. The victim can now speak." Frank Root Jr. was the Avon fire chief from 1990 to 2006, and his son succeeded him from 2006-21. Frank Root Jr. also owns two bars, The Maple Inn in Elyria and Frank & Ellie's Place in Avon, and it wasn't clear Monday if his felony conviction might affect his ability to retain a liquor license. Frank Root III and his wife are suing Frank Root Jr. for intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and slander in Lorain County Common Pleas Court, seeking more than $25,000 in damages. That case also is being heard by Betleski. Frank Root Jr. also is facing a misdemeanor public indecency charge in Avon Lake Municipal Court after a neighbor reported that he was urinating and exposing himself in the daytime Aug. 29, 2020. A pretrial hearing is scheduled Aug. 3. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.