MESSAGE FROM PROSECUTOR SHERRI BEVAN WALSH

Contact:  April Wiesner

(330) 643-8386

Culp Sentenced to 50 Years to Life in Prison

(October 18, 2011… Akron) … Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh announced today that Judge Judy Hunter sentenced Richard Culp, 43, of E. South Street in Akron to 50 years to life in prison. Last month a jury found Culp guilty of five counts of first-degree felony Rape with a repeat violent offender specification and one count of Kidnapping, a first-degree felony with a sexual motivation specification. That same jury deemed Culp a sexually violent predator in a separate trial. As part of the sentencing, Judge Hunter also deemed Culp a tier three sex offender.

On December 12, 2010, Culp and his girlfriend asked the female victim for a ride home. When they arrived at Culp’s apartment, he invited the victim inside to see the trophies he claimed he won as a Mixed Martial Arts fighter. Once inside the apartment, Culp threatened the victim with a knife and repeatedly raped her while his girlfriend remained in another room. In the morning, Culp announced that he would take the victim to work. She was able to escape before he could finish dressing. The victim called a friend who took her to the hospital.

Culp was arrested five days later hiding at another girl’s apartment in Medina.

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