OTTAWA HILLS, Ohio — Ronald "Donnie" Stevens, a former Ottawa Hills employee convicted of sexually abusing several teenage boys, was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday.
Stevens was given a combined life sentence with a minimum sentence of 101 years.
Stevens was convicted on more than 30 charges, including multiple counts of rape. Some victims gave impact statements to the court prior to the sentence being read.
Stevens declined to make a statement Tuesday. His lawyer said he stands by his innocence and plans to appeal.
The Ottawa Hills Board of Education met Sept. 30 and accepted Stevens' resignation. He was indicted in December 2019 and placed on leave. Superintendent Adam Fineske said district policy required Stevens to remain on leave until the criminal trial was complete.
Fineske said termination papers were delivered to the jail following the verdict. Stevens submitted his resignation, effective immediately, about an hour later.
A jury returned a guilty verdict on 31 of 32 counts. He was acquitted on one charge of gross sexual imposition.
The 32 felony charges Stevens faced included multiple counts of rape, sexual battery and gross sexual imposition. Prosecutors said the crimes occurred between August 2017 and November 2019 and involved at least six teenage boys. Most were Ottawa Hills students at the time of the acts. All of the alleged victims were friends of Stevens' son who would come over for sleepovers.
It appears that Stevens' wife, who's an Ottawa Hills Local Schools teacher, also remains on leave.
Kristie Stevens, a gifted intervention specialist at Ottawa Hills Junior High School who works remotely, was placed on paid administrative leave Jan. 8, 2020.
"The district cannot comment on personnel matters in regard to Kristie Stevens," Superintendent Adam Fineske said on Sept. 23.
Kevin Miller was superintendent at the time of Stevens' abuse. Miller declined to comment.
Court documents filed in February 2020 allege Stevens sent his wife a coded letter and kept an index for him to reference in jail.
In the letter, Stevens wrote, "Anything I wrote in your letter, no one else needs to know." The document reportedly goes on to say authorities, "took all of my notes, all of my notes to you, all my coding to you, all my numbers that I had coded..."
The court document further alleges those coded documents included secret ways to reference potential victims, specific counts in the indictment and potential forms of payment used to purchase illegal materials involving a minor.
The document goes on to say, "There are implied references that Defendant's (Ronald Stevens) wife may have culpability and could be arrested."
RECORDING OF CONVERSATION BETWEEN STEVENS, WIFE
Stevens, according to the documents, told his wife she would have to burn the letter he sent.
He also allegedly said, "Any any conversations, unless you tell me otherwise, we will never have about these conversations, I don't care if they put us in a small room and torture us, you know what I mean?" The document goes on to allege that his wife did, in fact, burn the letter.
Fineske did release the following statement to WTOL 11 regarding Donnie Stevens' conviction:
"The trial of Donnie Stevens has been emotional for our close-knit community. The abuse, as described during the trial, was shocking and heartbreaking for all those affected. As a district, we sympathize with all that the victims and their families have been through. We hope the guilty verdict provides some closure for those involved and allows the process of healing to begin as they look to the future."
WTOL 11 also reached out to former superintendent Miller to ask if he had a statement on Donnie Stevens, as he was superintendent at the time of the assaults.
Miller declined to make a personal comment, saying he would let the district speak.