EATON — A local man convicted of attempted rape of a child under the age of 10 was sentenced to 10 years-to-life in prison in Preble County Common Pleas Court on Monday, March 8. Judge Stephen R. Bruns presided.
Bradley Monebrake, 32, of Eaton, was indicted on charges of attempted rape, attempted gross sexual imposition, possession of criminal tools, two counts of violation of a protection order, voyeurism, and obstructing official business in May 2020. He pleaded guilty to the protection order charges, and was convicted on most of the remaining counts, in January of this year.
Judge Bruns chose to impose a sexually violent predator specification attached to the attempted rape charge which commands a mandatory 10 years-to-life sentence, saying that Monebrake met the description of “a person who commits a sexual offense, and the court finds that he will likely commit one or more offenses in the future.”
“The things that I thought were important to take into account were his previous conviction, and what I judge to be his obsessive planning for sexual assaults on his children, potentially neighbor children, and an adopted child in this case,” Bruns said.
Monebrake previously pleaded guilty to disseminating matter harmful to juveniles in Sept. 2014, for which he was sentenced to three years of community control and 90 days of incarceration by former Preble County Common Pleas Court Judge David Abruzzo.
Bruns further stated that “especially disturbing” material found on Monebrake’s phone showed him “engaging in sexual behavior with photographs of his own children.”
A victim impact statement read aloud in court accused Monebrake of having “a real lack of respect for boundaries,” saying he had “a personality that is focused on wearing people down to get what he wants.”
Monebrake addresses the Court
Monebrake spoke in his own defense for more than 30 minutes before sentence was handed down, reading from a letter he had written to Judge Bruns.
“Sir, I am living in a complete nightmare,” Monebrake began. “For 328 days I have been living in Hell. Words cannot explain the ways I have been mistreated, disrespected, and physically, verbally, and emotionally abused for crimes I did not commit. Sir, I am an innocent man.”
Among other claims, Monebrake stated that he had suffered frequent verbal abuse from other inmates while incarcerated in the Preble County Jail.
“Before this, Your Honor, I was a great father, a husband, a hard worker, and a provider for my family, but in this past year I have been reduced to nothing. Nothing at all,” Monebrake continued. “I have lost my family, my reputation, and my faith in God, as well as the State of Ohio.”
Monebrake questioned why his wife had not also been charged, despite engaging in what he called “role-playing” conversations along with him.
“Even though the text messages, and my wife in her testimony, stated that she said the same things that I said,” Monebrake said. “The text messages show how we role-played. Even as sick and disturbing and toxic as it was, it’s still a two-way conversation.”
Monebrake’s attorney, James Vanzant, submitted an unsuccessful motion for acquittal on the rape and GSI charges, stating that while Monebrake “may have engaged in talking about the possibility of performing sexual acts” upon a child during a camping trip with his wife and children in Aug. 2019, “it was only talk, and physical action was never taken or even attempted.”
Monebrake underlined this last point during his statements to the court.
“I am absolutely disappointed, ashamed, and embarrassed by the words that myself and my wife said,” Monebrake said. “But my wife and I have never touched our kids inappropriately at all, nor was we going to. You’re taking my kids’ father away from them.”
Monebrake also thanked his mother and siblings for their support and apologized to his children, who were not present in the courtroom.
Sentencing
Judge Bruns sentenced Monebrake to 10 years-to-life in prison on the attempted rape charge. Ohio law allows indefinite sentencing under the terms of the Reagan Tokes Act; passed in 2019, the law was named for an Ohio State University student who was murdered by a convicted sex offender who’d recently been released from prison despite being cited for dozens of infractions while incarcerated.
Bruns stated that the voyeurism and GSI counts “merged” with the rape charge and could not be sentenced separately. Finally, Bruns sentenced Monebrake to 12 months of incarceration on each count of violating a protection order, to be served consecutively with each other but concurrently with his sentence on the rape charge.
If released, Monebrake will be designated a Tier-III sex offender, meaning that he must report to the Sheriff of any county where he lives, works, or attends school every 90 days for the remainder of his life. He must also report any planned international travel or change in internet identifiers.
