Sex assault victim says Cordray ‘let me down’

THE AD: A 30-second TV commercial from the newly formed Accountability Project Institute, a “dark money” political nonprofit allowed to accept and spend unlimited amounts of money without disclosing its donors.

WHERE TO SEE IT: Cable television stations and digital platforms. The nonprofit did not disclose the size or cost of the buy. IMAGES: Sexual assault victim Aubrie, who did not want her last name used, speaks, followed by an image of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray and a 2010 headline about the case from The Dispatch. Images follow of a shadowy girl, unknown figures shaking hands and an image of handcuffs being removed.

SCRIPT: (Aubrie narrating) “When I was 14, I was sexually assaulted by two men. Richard Cordray was the prosecutor. (Narrator) But, Richard Cordray refused to consider felony charges for these two sex offenders. Cordray Cordray blamed the victim and cut a deal with the criminals that guaranteed them no prison time. Official records reveal that Cordray’s office didn’t want to ruin the lives of the sex offenders, so they ignored the pleas of the child victim and her mother. (Aubrie) Richard Cordray let me down.”

ANALYSIS: As reported by The Dispatch in 2010, then-Attorney General Cordray’s office played the role of investigator and prosecutor in a case in which Samuel Thatcher, then 18, the son of then-Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher, and Donald Bailey, then 19, were accused of sexually assaulting the then-14-year-old girl. The prosecutor was a Republican; Cordray a Democrat. The men said they did not know each other. Prosecutors in Cordray’s office disagreed over how to charge the men.

Cordray’s office decided to charge the men with counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor, rather than pursue felony charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a felony carrying six to 18 months imprisonment. The victim’s mother and Justice League officials objected. They said each man should face felonies because they were more than four years older than Aubrie. They met with Cordray, who said the charge against the younger Thatcher, based on the difference in his age and Aubrie, would barely clear the threshold to a felony charge. Bailey’s greater age difference went unaddressed.

A special judge appointed in the case accepted Thatcher and Bailey’s pleas to misdemeanor charges, then stepped aside, saying he could not “philosophically continue” once he learned all the facts in the case. Another judge sentenced Thatcher and Bailey to five years on probation. Thatcher also received 30 days of monitored house arrest and a suspended 180day jail sentence. Bailey received 20 days in jail.

Cordray told The Dispatch at the time: “This was a tough one. I can understand how a parent would feel. I’m a parent myself. I’m the attorney general, and I have to make these calls. I try to make them the best I can.”