Child rapist’s parole hearing still pending
Denial reported incorrectly by prosecutor’s office
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EDITOR'S NOTE: The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office released the wrong information regarding a parole hearing for child rapist Felicia Beemer. Below is a corrected version of the story that ran in the weekend newspaper.
Staff report
WARREN -- The parole hearing for convicted child rapist Felicia Banks Beemer is scheduled sometime this week, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Incorrect information that Beemer was denied parole was provided by the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office on Thursday and reported in a story that appeared in the newspaper's weekend edition. Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said in an updated news release Monday that he accepts responsibility for this error.
Jenna Maze, coordinator for the prosecutor's Victim/Witness Division, was speaking with the administrator of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's Office of Victim Services regarding the decisions for multiple parole hearings that had taken place over the past few months. While reviewing the decisions, it was discovered that the inmate number for Felicia Beemer had been mistakenly crossed with the inmate number of another female inmate who had been denied parole.
"As a result, the parole decision that was initially provided to us was for a different inmate and did not pertain to Felicia Beemer," Watkins wrote.
"We apologize to the parole board and public for the mix-up, and any misinformation that may have resulted from this error," Watkins said. "There is currently no parole decision available for Felicia Beemer because the parole board has not yet met to make its determination, and I apologize to the parole board and to the public for this mistake. However, we truly expected this result and still do."
The Victim/Witness Division yearly deals with hundreds of criminal cases, countless victims and witnesses, and a large volume of parole cases, including hearings.
Watkins said to ensure that this mistake will not be repeated, an extra layer of confirmation will be added to the office protocol to verify future decisions of the Ohio State Parole Board regarding Trumbull County inmates.
"While I regret the erroneous information being processed, this does not change our position that Felicia Beemer does not deserve parole," Watkins said. "We stand by our previous statement that Felicia Beemer is a corrections nightmare and monster child sex offender who needs incapacitation by incarceration until death. The evidence unequivocally illustrates that Felicia Beember is a predator, child pornographer, pedophile and a child rapist. She preyed on multiple children who trusted her. She preyed on an infant and a toddler. She even had recorded herself having sex with a dog. She ensured that her crimes were captured on video so that her co-defendant (her husband, Cody) and her could revisit, lust and possibly revictimize these children at their leisure."
BACKGROUND ON CASE
Beemer, 36, of Warren, was convicted of raping a girl, 8 months old, and a boy 18 months old, both on video. Both children were relatives of Beemer.
"With some criminal offenders, treatment is not a societal option; only punishment and incarceration works," Watkins said. "Beemer's bad behavior while in prison includes predatory sexual assaults, physical violence and hateful speech."
Beemer is serving 15 years to life in prison for two counts rape, multiple counts of using a minor in sexually oriented matter and two counts pandering obscenity involving minors. She was sentenced on Nov. 2, 2012, by former Trumbull County Judge W. Wyatt McKay.
Her husband, Cody Beemer, was also captured on the video raping the girl and was sentenced to 25 years to life. The rapes took place while they were visiting the girl at Trumbull County Children Services. Felicia Beemer's cellphone contained more than 500 images of child pornography.
At the time of Felicia Beemer's conviction in 2012, former Assistant Prosecutor Diane Barber, then head of the prosecutor's Child Assault Unit, said Felicia Beemer's offenses were "the worst form of the offense ... (Beemer and her husband) preyed on children." Barber said, "Kids that age don't have the verbal skills to discuss it. And not only that, the victims were relatives of the defendants -- blood relatives of Felicia's."
In a letter opposing her parole, Watkins talked about her bad behavior while in prison, stating "Her prison disciplinary record for the amount of time served is the worst Watkins has seen since taking office in 1984. She has been incarcerated in Ohio's prison system for approximately the past 14 years, and … has amassed a staggering 85 documented disciplinary infractions."
Among the many in-prison infractions are Beemer sexually assaulting another inmate during an activity in January 2025. She also committed many violent assaults -- including a hit-for-hire on a sleeping inmate -- diverting controlled medications, faking seizures to manipulate staff, extorting or trading illicit and stolen property, and threatening and/or spewing hate speech to prison staff and other inmates."