SerpApi.Org
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Beachwood nanny who admitted to raping two toddlers and sharing videos of the abuse will spend the rest of her life in prison.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Pamela Barker sentenced Molly Duncan, 26, to 70 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to four counts related to creating and distributing child sexual abuse material of children she had been hired to watch.
Officials said the case was extreme, even when compared to other child sexual abuse cases. Duncan sent the videos of her raping the toddlers, who were aged one and 1-and-a-half at the time, to other sex offenders and fantasized with them about having her own children one day and sexually abusing them. Prosecutors did not describe what the videos depicted, but said the children were heard whimpering in pain.
“This defendant is a sexual predator unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” said Barker, who spent eight years as a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge before becoming a federal judge in 2019.
“She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Barker said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Kane described the nine videos and nine photos found when authorities searched Duncan’s devices as “horrible.”
Duncan was “enjoying this activity and helping others enjoy what she had done,” Kane said.
The mother of the Portage County victim spoke during the sentencing and said despite her daughter being only a year old when the physical abuse happened, it has had a lasting impact.
Her daughter suffers from anxiety, has undergone behavioral changes and struggles to trust other people, the mother said.
“There is evil in this world and its name is Molly Duncan,” the mother said at the sentencing.
At the sentencing, even Duncan’s attorney, R.J. Budway, agreed his client’s actions were “heinous.”
“She’s never getting out of prison,” he said, adding, “I don’t know where she got lost in her life to do this to these two kids.”
The federal sentence is only for the production and sharing of child sexual abuse material. Duncan also faces rape cases in Portage and Geauga counties related to the same incidents. Any sentence from those local cases will be in addition to her 70 years in federal prison, Barker ruled.
Last month, Duncan pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree rape and other charges in Portage County Court of Common Pleas. Her sentencing is scheduled for Friday before Judge Laurie Pittman.
Her case remains pending in Geauga County.
Authorities caught Duncan after the photo and video messaging app Snapchat notified authorities about 15 videos sent from her account. She shared child sexual abuse material with at least three other people, according to court documents.
During the federal sentencing, Duncan spoke, expressing “extremely profound remorse” for her actions and saying her mental health issues were “prominent” enough to land her in a mental hospital several times.
Those mental health issues include depression, PTSD, substance abuse and suicide attempts, Barker said, citing sealed court documents.
Despite Duncan’s mental illnesses, Barker said the defendant “knew what she was doing was wrong.”
Barker said Duncan grew up in a “loving, supportive household,” was not abused as a child and graduated high school with honors. She attended college until she was raped at the age of 19, then dropped out and didn’t re-enroll, Barker said.
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