Convicted Lorain County sex offender pleads guilty to 2021 Lakewood rape

A convicted sex offender who moved to Oberlin after raping a Medina County teen in Lakewood on New Year's Eve 2021 has pleaded guilty to three felony charges in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Daniel Conrad, 35, of Lorain pleaded guilty to felony charges of rape, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material with a prior conviction specification, and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles in front of Judge Timothy McGinty in Cleveland on July 17, the day his trial was scheduled to start. A kidnapping charge, three rape charges and a child pornography charge were dismissed by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office upon Conrad's guilty plea. Prosecutors also dismissed specifications that would have labeled Conrad a sexually violent predator, according to court records. McGinty ordered probation officers to do a presentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for Aug. 16, according to court records. Conrad will be labeled a Tier III sex offender at sentencing. Under Ohio law, that will require him to register his address with his local sheriff's office in person every 90 days for the rest of his life upon release from prison. A Lakewood police detective went to the emergency room at Akron Children's Hospital on Jan. 4, 2022, to collect evidence after a teenage girl reported being raped by a man named "Dan" she met through Snapchat. The victim told police that "Dan" told her he was 22 and she said they swapped nude photos. On Dec. 31, 2021, he picked her up from her house in Medina, drove her to his house on Elmwood Avenue in Lakewood and raped her twice. Lakewood police identified Conrad as their suspect and the victim picked him out of a lineup. He was already a registered sex offender serving probation in Lorain County after pleading guilty to child pornography charges in Lorain County Common Pleas Court in 2021. In the case that led to that conviction, Conrad videotaped a juvenile girl performing a sex act and uploaded the video to a pornography website. Following the rape, Conrad had moved to a house on West Lincoln Street in Oberlin. Police got a warrant and searched the house on Feb. 10, 2022. A sample of Conrad's DNA was taken, and his iPhone, computer and digital storage devices seized, according to court documents. In December 2022, Judge Mark Betleski found Conrad in violation of his probation in the child pornography case and sentenced him to two-to-three years in prison, according to court records.