Warren County man sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing two girls

WARREN COUNTY, Ohio (WKRC) - A Warren County judge sentenced a Carlisle man to life in prison for raping two children. A jury convicted Ronald Rowland, 69, of seven counts of rape, rape of a child under 13, and two counts of gross sexual imposition. Rowland won't have a chance for parole for 56 years. Rowland raped and abused the girls between 2009 and 2017, according to Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell. The abuse began when the first victim was 9-years-old. Rowland took her into a shed on his property and asked her to show him her training bra. Then touched her breasts and told her she was becoming a woman. Rowland began abusing the second girl when she was 12 and continued for four years. He raped her repeatedly over the years in his shed, his home, a rental house, and her home. In March 2018, the first victim told her mother and the second victim about the abuse. The second victim then did the same. The girls were interviewed by a trained forensic interviewer. The second victim also recorded a phone call to Rowland where he apologized and told her he didn't know why he had done it. “Rowland preyed on two little girls who trusted him. For years, he used that trust to his advantage to hide his horrific sexual assaults against them. He rightfully deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison,” said Fornshell. In addition to the prison time, Rowland was designated a Tier III sex offender.