The former CovCath basketball player was arrested in May. (Photo: Fox19 NOW)
A negotiated guilty plea deal by a former Covington Catholic High School basketball player will enable the victims, four teenage girls, to avoid the publicity of a trial.
Joseph Eubank pleaded guilty in court Wednesday to one count of rape and three sex abuse charges.
The 17-year-old was charged as an adult in the rape of a teenage girl and sex abuse of three others. He was indicted Nov. 7, 2018, according to court documents.
“Avoiding publicity that inevitably surrounds a case like this was very important to some of our victims, but I don’t think anyone in their right mind would look forward to testifying in open court about events that are so painful,” said Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders of the plea deal.
The indictment states the incidents occurred on or between Feb. 1, 2017, and March 31, 2019. Eubank was 14-to-16 years old at the time, Sanders said.
“There are no winners in this case,” Sanders said. “A young man is going to jail for a very long time and several young women are going to be dealing with the emotional scars of his crimes for the rest of their lives.”
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The terms of the plea deal are that Eubank will be sentenced to 25 years in prison. The sentence is based upon 10 years on the rape charge and five years on each of the three sex abuse charges.
Sanders said he will be eligible for parole after 8.5 years in prison.
The lengthy prison sentence is deserved because of the number of victims and the defendant’s conduct, Sanders said
“It was done after extensive consultation with the victims in the case and spares the victims from testifying in an open courtroom and brings a quick resolution to the matter,” Sanders said of the plea deal.
Kenton Circuit Court Judge Gregory M. Bartlett will have formal sentencing March 23 after a sex offender evaluation is conducted, Sanders said.
The guilty plea shows victims in sex abuse cases can confidently decide to come forward, he said.
“They will be taken seriously and we will fight for justice on their behalf,”
Fox19 NOW contributed to this story.
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