Mom accused of trading preteen daughter to drug dealer

Emilie Eaton and Keith BieryGolick | The Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI — A mother has been indicted on 27 felony counts, accused of giving her 11-year-old daughter to a Cincinnati drug dealer in exchange for heroin, authorities said Monday.

The indictment alleges that April Corcoran, 30, of Pleasant Plain, Ohio, gave her daughter to her drug dealer, Shandell Willingham, 41, so he could have sex with her. Corcoran, who lives in this town of 150 people about 30 miles northeast of Cincinnati, also is accused of injecting her daughter with heroin.

Corcoran could face the possibility of life in prison if convicted of all charges, which include human trafficking and endangering children, according to a news release.

Willigham also was indicted on 26 felony counts, including rape, human trafficking and some for allegedly videotaping sex crimes against Corcoran's daughter.

The crimes allegedly occurred between Feb. 15 and June 6 of last year, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said. The girl told her stepmother what had happened when she went to live with her father and stepmother at the end of the school year.

The girl is now living with her father and stepmother full time, Deters said. He sent an assistant prosecutor to meet with the girl and she's doing as well as can be expected.

"I don't know how you could ever get past this," Deters said.

This case highlights how the heroin epidemic has spread through the state, DeWine said. Heroin used to be a drug that affected only a select group of people, but now it's pervasive in the suburbs.

And more people are turning to heroin since the federal government has cracked down on over prescribing of opiate pain killers, Deters said. But Ohio law makes it difficult to prosecute drug dealers for manslaughter when one of their buyers overdoses.

"This is unlike any other epidemic we've ever seen," he said. "Heroin destroys families. Heroin causes people to care about nothing but feeding their habit."

Contributing: Rebecca Butts, The Cincinnati Enquirer



