Rebecca Butts, and Keith BieryGolick

Cincinnati

SPRINGBORO— She couldn’t even stand up. The 14-year-old high school freshman had vomited earlier that night after drinking vodka and smoking marijuana. Now it was around 2 a.m., and a 14-year-old classmate held her up.

There were no adults home. After encouragement from other friends, the two slipped off into a room by themselves. The boy would later tell his friends he was trying to get her away from alcohol.

“I couldn’t let her drink anymore (be)cause she was too drunk,” he told his friend in a text message a few days later. “So I took her away from the alcohol.”

But that’s not the whole story. What started out as a celebratory party had turned into a parent’s worst nightmare. That 14-year-old boy, who turned 15 while locked up in juvenile detention, was found guilty of rape Tuesday.

It was Sept. 11, and Springboro High School’s football team had just pummeled Franklin High School 38-0. Afterward, several young girls flocked to a nearby home where alcohol was available and the adults were away in Columbus.

Several boys waited until their parents fell asleep and sneaked off to the party. They drank. They smoked.

Warren County Judge Joseph Kirby called it a recipe for disaster. “If ever there was a compelling story as to why underage alcohol parties are never a good idea,” Kirby said before announcing his verdict, “this one would be it.”

Eventually, couples began to split off into different rooms to hook up. Suddenly, the young girl prosecutors say was “extraordinarily intoxicated” found herself alone in the living room. The boy who previously held her up now stuck his hand under her shirt and, according to court documents, rubbed her breasts.

He said she never said yes or no. She testified she always said no.

“I thought she wanted to give me oral sex,” he told police.

The Enquirer is not naming either individual because they are minors and one has been the victim of a sexual crime.

Both the victim and the defendant were freshman students at Springboro High School. Since the incident did not take place on school grounds, no disciplinary action was taken against the defendant, according to Springboro Community Schools Superintendent Todd Petrey.

“We had no jurisdiction,” said Petrey. “Both families are in our prayers every day.”

The superintendent said he did not know if the victim still goes to school there.

“And I couldn’t tell you if I did,” he said, citing student privacy laws.

Court documents indicate the boy has been banned from attending school functions until ordered otherwise by Judge Kirby.

Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said in a news release the teenagers at the party who encouraged the boy to “make a move” knew the girl had too much to drink. But no one else was charged with a crime.

On Facebook, Fornshell said it takes more than general encouragement to be complicit to an offense under Ohio law. But, he said, the mentality in today’s society needs to change.

“Engaging in sexual conduct with an extraordinarily intoxicated young woman who is clearly unable to consent is not cool,” said Fornshell. “It’s not an easy target for a sexual conquest. It is rape.”

Judge Kirby agreed, and the boy is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 3.