Cheviot child rapist says he was abused. 'No compassion for you, whatsoever,' judge replies

Kevin Grasha | Cincinnati Enquirer

In an extremely unusual moment, a man who raped and sexually abused three young girls over multiple years blamed his crimes on abuse he said he suffered as a child.

But at a hearing Monday, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker discounted Nicholas White’s remarks, telling him there is evil in the world, “and right now, I’m looking at it.”

“I have no compassion for you, whatsoever,” Dinkelacker said, before imposing a sentence of 30 years to life in prison.

White, who is 29 and now has a full beard, spoke in a soft voice. Several times, he had to be reminded to speak louder. He initially tried to read from a statement he had written, but then broke down crying. One of his attorneys then read the rest of it for him.

White said he always knew “deep down” that the sexual abuse he said he suffered was wrong, but came to assume “it was a normal thing that happened.”

Eventually, he said he became “confused, embarrassed and ashamed” by the memories.

“Out of shame,” he wrote, “I suppressed those memories.”

Over time, he began to forget and “eventually those memories just became bad dreams.”

Because of the embarrassment and shame, he said he never spoke about his experiences and “never sought mental help” as a teenager or adult.

He said he tried to hide his “symptoms.” He said he “continually call(ed) off work” and “ignor(ed) invites.”

White also apologized to the girls, who prosecutors said were around the ages of 7 and 9 when the abuse happened. A fourth victim was 15 when court documents say White solicited her to engage in sex acts with him.

The charges date back at least to 2013. Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Schrimpf said it was the worst case of its kind he has seen in nearly eight years as a prosecutor.

“These are monstrous actions,” Schrimpf said. “Unspeakable evil.”

He called White’s child pornography collection “extremely disturbing.”

White’s girlfriend, 32-year-old Elizabeth Smith, is accused of giving him “permission to engage in this activity and set parameters on the scope of the abuse” involving some of the children.

Prosecutors also say Smith took photos of one of the girls’ genitals.

Smith is awaiting trial on charges including complicity and endangering children. They lived in Cheviot.

Court documents say that in the summer of 2017 White sent Smith a text message, asking her to solicit the 15-year-old girl “to engage in sexual activity with both defendants.” Smith then showed the teen the text message, the documents say.

In January of this year, according to the documents, White sent the teen a Snapchat message “requesting that she engage in sexual activity with him.”

White pleaded guilty to rape, a child pornography charge, gross sexual imposition and soliciting a minor for sex.

Schrimpf said the state offered White a plea deal to spare the girls the trauma of having to testify in court about what happened.