Crime & Safety

Steubenville Teen Still On Track to Attend Kent State in Fall

Two teens sentenced this month in Ohio high school rape case, more charges filed

The trial has ended for two Stuebenville, OH, high school students charged with rape and more charges have been filed in the case this week.

But Kent State University officials said the status has not changed for a Stuebenville teen with a connection to the case and admitted to the university in the fall.

Charlie Keenan, a senior at Steubenville High School who has been a star athlete on the football field and wrestling mat for the southern Ohio school, has been accepted to Kent State on a partial wrestling scholarship.

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Keenan was a member of the Steubenville Big Red football team. He has not been charged or identified as being directly involved by authorities investigating the sexual assault case.

Kent State spokesperson Eric Mansfield said Keenan's status is unchanged and the youth still is considered an incoming student scheduled to start classes at the Kent campus in the fall.

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Keenan's acceptance to the university sparked heavy criticism on Kent State's Facebook page in January when numerous people started calling for Ohio's second-largest public university to revoke his scholarship and deny him admittance.

The university responded by saying it was watching the case closely — particularly to see if others would be charged. That response drew 119 comments on the Facebook page.

In January, officials at Ohio State University announced that a former Steubenville student, Michael Nodianos, who had been videotaped talking about the rape incidents was suddenly no longer enrolled.

On March 17 the two star football players for Steubenville charged with raping a 16-year-old girl from West Virgina, Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, were found guilty.

The next day, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the arrests of two more teens on menacing charges for threatening the victim in the case.

DeWine, whose office is managing the case, has asked the Jefferson County Common Pleas Court to convene a grand jury to determine if more charges should be filed in the case.

"A grand jury is an investigative tool that is uniquely suited to ensure fairness and to complete this investigation," DeWine said. "And this community needs assurance that no stone has been left unturned in our search for the truth."


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