The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Convicted rapist sued by victim
A former Painesville man found guilty on multiple counts of rape and sexual battery is being sued by his victim.
Terry Rohn, 54, was found guilty by a Lake County jury in November and then was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. The terms are to run consecutively for a total of 37 years to life imprisonment. The now-adult victim’s lawsuit filed in Lake County Common Pleas Court alleges that Rohn caused her irreparable harm and pain. She is seeking an excess of $25,000 from Rohn.
The suit filed by the Charles Boyk Law Firm on behalf of Jordan Timely alleges that Rohn was the best friend of the victim’s father and moved into his home when she was 10 years old. Shortly afterward, he began sexually abusing her. The firm alleges the abuse continued after Rohn moved out of the home and into an apartment in Painesville.
“He would frequently coerce and manipulate Ms. Timely to get her alone in his apartment and would engage in nonconsensual sexual acts with the plaintiff, approximately from the ages of 10 to 16,” the firm stated in a news release.
The lawsuit alleges the then minor victim suffered severe physical, emotional and psychological injuries of a permanent and lasting nature.
The suit asks that Rohn be ordered to pay compensatory and punitive damages
to the victim.
Rohn was indicted in May 2019.
“As a young girl, my client suffered extreme abuse at the hands of a trusted family friend,” Boyk said in a statement. “For years she was a victim of sexual abuse which has caused her years of immeasurable pain and suffering. This traumatized young girl grew into a brave young woman and now wants to
speak out against her perpetrator and the adults that failed her.”
The case has been assigned to Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Pat Condon.
Rohn, an inmate at the Lorain Correctional Institution, is appealing his sentence, according to Lake County Common Pleas Court records.
The deadline to file his appellate brief is April 16.