COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former South-Western City Schools middle school teacher was sentenced to six years in prison Monday for sexually abusing a teenage student for several years.
Benjamin Rutan, 42, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. He appeared in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas on Monday where Judge Jaiza Page sentenced him to six years in prison with up to two years of post-release control.
He also must register as a Tier II sex offender after he is released from prison.
Rutan was a track and basketball coach and was a seventh- and eighth-grade language arts teacher at Norton Middle School.
His victim, Madison Sparks, now 24, said six years wasn’t enough.
“I was recently told this plea deal was appropriate for this circumstance. I disagree. It wasn’t appropriate for him to rob the innocence of a child. It wasn’t appropriate for him to groom a 12-year-old little girl that this was a relationship,” she said. “If you ask me, six years sounds just about as appropriate as raping a little kid.”
Before Judge Page handed down the sentence, Sparks shared her story and the struggles she’s faced over the years due to Rutan’s actions against her.
“It was never and never will be my fault. Not that I ever asked for it, even if I had, it was his responsibility as an adult and teacher to shut it down immediately and tell someone,” Sparks said. “I can’t count how many nights I cried myself to sleep hoping I wouldn’t wake up. At one point I thought I might even run out of tears. I wanted it to all be over, the lies, the secrets, the double life. It was all too much.”
In June 2013, the criminal complaint says Rutan started having sex with the Sparks when she was 14 years old and helping with the school's football team that summer.
During an interview with a detective in 2021, Sparks said the two had sex multiple times a week until she was 19 at various locations on the middle school's property and in Franklin County.
She was given a recording device by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office on Dec. 2, 2021. Sparks contacted Rutan and he gave several admissions during their conversation about their relationship between 2013-2018.
After that, Rutan was arrested and charged. He also submitted his resignation.
In court Monday, Rutan apologized to Sparks, her family and his family saying in part, "Everything she said today was true. She's absolutely correct. She has a right to hate me, she has the right to feel everything she feels to me. At the end of the day, I was the adult in the room. I had every opportunity to stop and I didn't. She's correct, her family is correct and I'll pay for that every day for the rest of my life."
The South-Western City Schools conducted an internal investigation in 2021 and found that he violated school policy and did engage in an inappropriate sexual relationship with Sparks using school facilities and resources.
“Based upon the preponderance of the evidence, it cannot be found that any District employee other than Mr. Rutan was aware of or had reason to know of the relationship between them.”
Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Meyer noted that the six year sentence, agreed upon between the State and Rutan’s defense, would not be satisfactory to everyone. He said it was well-thought-out and fit the timeline of events.