CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer / cincinnati.com
September 12, 2024
By Kevin Grasha
A man who while studying to be a priest had videos of children being “kidnapped, handcuffed and raped” was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to spend six months in a lockdown sex offender treatment program.
Broderick Witt, 29, was led out of the courtroom Thursday by a sheriff’s deputy after Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Branch imposed the sentence.
Branch listed numerous conditions Witt will have to follow once he completes the six months at River City Correctional Center. Among them: He has to continue undergoing sex offender treatment, he must wear a device that monitors his location, and he is prohibited from possessing or living in a home with any device that can access the internet.
Also during his probation term, he has to stay away from all children in his family.
Branch told Witt that if he violates any of the terms, she will sentence him to 12 years in prison, the maximum for the charges he pleaded to.
Witt was at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology in Mount Washington when he possessed approximately 230 images and videos that prosecutors say showed children being sexually abused.
He was arrested in February at his residence at the seminary. He pleaded guilty in August to eight counts of possessing child sexually abusive material.
During Thursday’s sentencing, Assistant Prosecutor Chris Lipps described some of the videos, which he said Witt obtained on the “dark web” through unregulated sites.
Some videos depicted girls being sexually assaulted by adult men. One video involved a dog. In another, a 13-year-old girl said her name and said she was “from Denmark” before performing a sex act.
“This is abuse. This is rape. These kids didn’t consent,” Lipps said, later adding that Witt “viewed and enjoyed watching violence happen to these victims.”
Lipps, who argued that Witt should be sentenced to 12 years in prison, also suggested that Witt was using his position “as a man of the cloth” to get access to children. Witt had saved on his phone, Lipps said, photos of children of relatives. The children were “nude and bathing,” he said.
“In his own words, he thinks he’s a piece of garbage,” Lipps said, referring to a lengthy statement Witt made in court Thursday. “That’s the only thing I would agree with, at this point.”
During that statement, Witt at one point had to stop because he began crying. He said his sometimes crippling depression was the “root cause” of his behavior.
“Regrettably, the need to escape the terrible pain took an awful turn,” he said. “The actions that I took are not who I am or who I want to be… They are a result of a life of mental anguish and a desire to be free from it.”
“I am deeply ashamed,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Aspiring priest sentenced for images, videos of child sex abuse