WARREN COUNTY — A former reality TV personality and his partner were sentenced to prison after sex related crimes.
Tony McCollister and his former partner Erica Grover were sentenced for crimes related to disturbing sex abuse case involving a 5-year-old and animals, according to our news partner WCPO.
McCollister was sentenced to 15 years to life in Warren County Prison with a possible parole after 15 years.
Additionally, McCollister will be required to register as a sex offender.
Grove was sentenced to 84 months in prison for child endangerment, gross sexual imposition and sexual conduct with an animal.
Grove will only need to register as a sex offender for 25 years.
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Prosecutors asked the court to impose the maximum sentence against the pair, according to WCPO.
“We don’t ask this court lightly for this kind of sentence,” a prosecutor told the judge. “We know that it’s reserved for the most heinous, vile acts that exist in the state of Ohio, and I would submit that this is exactly what Mr. McCollister engaged in.”
McCollister and Grove were emotional during the sentencing hearing as the victim’s father shared a statement on behalf of his daughter before the defendants addressed the court.
“I’m trying to own everything I’ve done,” McCollister said. “A lot of it is very confusing. I was not moral. I didn’t recognize it at the time.”
“And I deserve to be punished,” Grove said. “I humbly ask for that punishment to be in grace.”
The case heavily covered over 1,000 text messages exchanged between McCollister and Grace
The defense argued that many of the conversations were like a fantasy, but Grove said the manipulation and abuse she suffered from McCollister was very real.
“The confusion, the manipulation that alters your sense of reality was absolutely real,” Grove said. “It is real, and it is paralyzing. It clouds your ability to make decisions.”
Prosecutors complained about the defense continuing to make this argument about Tony versus Erica when they both are deviants in this case.
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