Woman sentenced to 12 years for housing convicted sex offender with children

FILE PHOTO: WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 19: The chairman's gavel is visible before a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 19, 2026 in Washington, DC. The committee is meeting to advance a reconciliation package increasing funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through a simple-majority vote process. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

By Brooke Jones, WHIO.com

SUMMIT COUNTY — A Summit County woman is going to jail after she allowed a convicted sex offender to live in a home with children.

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Kirstie Kandel, 33, was sentenced to 12 years in prison this week, WOIO, a CBS affiliate in Cleveland, reported.

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Kandel pleaded guilty to four counts of endangering children in March.

Prosecutors said she allowed Seth Chio, a Tier III sex offender, to live in the home for about nine months between 2024 and 2025.

While staying in the home, Chio allegedly committed sexual acts against the children who lived there, WOIO reported.

Chio is set to go to trial for those charges later this year.

WOIO reported he was previously convicted of rape, sexual battery, and gross sexual imposition.

Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich said Kandel failed to protect the children.

“She knew the danger this individual—a convicted sex offender—posed, yet allowed him to remain in the home and even took steps to shield him from law enforcement," Kolkovich said.

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