A former reality TV star has been jailed for raping a five-year-old girl and sexually abusing two dogs. Tony McCollister, who appeared on the swingers show Neighbors With Benefits, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 15 years on Tuesday in Ohio, USA.
The 44-year-old was found guilty of rape, gross sexual imposition and child endangering. He had previously pleaded guilty to numerous charges of possessing child sexual abuse material and sexual conduct with animals.
Erica Grove, a former partner of McCollister, was found guilty of gross sexual imposition and child endangering after pleading guilty to charges involving sexual conduct with animals. She was jailed for seven years.
Prosecutors detail abuse
Assistant Warren County Prosecutor Julie Kraft told the court that McCollister and Grove were involved in a "world of deviant sexual behaviours" and exchanged thousands of text messages about sexually abusing the girl. Kraft said: "They're both deviant. They both engaged in these acts together."
McCollister starred in Neighbors With Benefits in 2015, a programme about married couples in extramarital relationships that was cancelled after two episodes. The show portrayed McCollister and his then-wife as leaders of a swingers movement in their Thornton Grove neighbourhood.
Prosecutors said the couple drugged the girl before sexually assaulting her, but both were acquitted of a felony charge of corrupting another person with drugs.
Motivation and court statements
Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Hardman told the judge McCollister was a willing participant in the abuse and encouraged it, acting because he was "angry about his girlfriend, his live-in girlfriend, cheating on him." The court heard Grove often initiated the abuse and that the couple exploited the girl as part of a sexual fantasy, with Grove sending images and videos to McCollister.
Hardman said: "He has given up the ability to walk amongst normal individuals. He should be spending the rest of his life in a place where he cannot ever commit such heinous and horrific acts against another 5-year-old or any other young child who's out there."
McCollister's lawyer Joshua Engel told the court his client offered "extreme childhood trauma," including physical and sexual abuse, and that McCollister spoke to investigators against his lawyer's advice. "He wanted to make sure that he acknowledged what he did and what he did that was wrong," Engel said.
McCollister told the court his viewing of child abuse material stemmed from an out-of-control addiction to sex and pornography, and that his life was going well for the first nine months of his relationship with Grove before he learned she was having an affair. He said: "All I can say is the next 22 months of my life, I stepped outside of myself. I'm trying to own everything I've done."
Victim's father speaks
The victim's father submitted a written statement saying she would need a lifetime of therapy due to the trauma she endured. She now suffers night terrors, and her father said he cannot ease her distress. He said she was "a very young child who depended on adults for her safety, and could not protect herself... Above all, I want her to know that none of this was her fault."
