Husband accused of raping teens sentenced on lesser charges after guilty plea

CINCINNATI (WXIX/Gray News) - An Ohio man accused of raping teens who prosecutors say were lured to his home by his wife has entered into a plea deal and was sentenced Monday on lesser charges.

Anthony Philpot, 36, will spend just under two more years in prison after pleading guilty last month to three counts of gross sexual imposition. Three counts of rape and one count of kidnapping were dismissed.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Jennifer Branch sentenced Philpot on Monday to a total of three years in prison. He received credit for just over a year, 368 days, that he’s already served in the county jail since he was indicted in June 2021, WXIX reports.

The judge declared Philpot a Tier 1 sex offender, which will require him to register his home address in his residing county once he is released for 15 years.

Prosecutors had requested 4 1/2 years in prison.

“It will proportionally punish (Philpot) for his crimes of sexually exploiting vulnerable young women brought into his home under false pretenses,” prosecutors wrote in the state’s sentencing memo to the court.

Philpot’s attorney requested community control, noting that he “already has spent more than one year in custody awaiting the conclusion of this matter during which he has lost his mother.”

His wife, Shana Philpot, 34, is still charged with two counts of complicity to rape and one count of complicity to kidnapping.

Her jury trial is set for Sept. 6.

The couple’s indictment was based on three separate teenage victims between 2016 and 2019, according to court documents.

Shana Philpot used Facebook to convince two of the teens to come to the couple’s home for photo shoots, court records stated. That’s where prosecutors say her husband committed the rapes.

He also was accused of giving two of the victims alcohol or marijuana, and the sex acts occurred while at least two of them were sleeping, court records show.

The kidnapping-related charges stem from the couple driving one of the victims in their van from their home to a Kroger store off Ohio 128 and U.S. 50.

During the ride, the victim “jumped from their moving van in order to escape,” and the couple stopped and forcibly put her back inside, documents stated.

This all came to light when Boone County authorities alerted Hamilton County investigators after a victim tried to file a rape report in February 2021.

Boone County detectives determined the offense occurred in Hamilton County, and there were “multiple victims who want to come forward and file complaints,” a sheriff’s report states.

Shana Philpot’s bond originally was set at $250,000, but it was reduced by Judge Jennifer Branch at her attorney’s request in December to $30,000, court records show.

Shana Philpot was released after the required 10% of that bond was posted, $3,000 on Dec. 17, a copy of the bond entry states.

The judge ordered her not to have any contact with her husband, the three victims and “any person who spoke to police.”

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