Man Sentenced to Life in Prison in Marion County Child Rape Case

A convicted child rapist was sentenced to life in prison in Marion County Common Pleas Court.

According to a release from Prosecutor Ray Grogan’s office, Mark Kelley received that sentence after being convicted of rape charges.

After impassioned arguments from Assistant Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Parker Schwartz, Judge Todd Anderson sentenced convicted child rapist Mark Kelley to a life sentence.

In 2024, the grandmother of the victim, reported to law enforcement that her four-year-old grandson had disclosed being raped by Kelley. The disclosure occurred after the victim told his grandmother that he and the defendant shared a “secret” that he was not supposed to tell anyone.

Throughout the investigation, rather than accepting responsibility, Kelley denied the allegations, described the victim as an “angry” child who “hates everybody,” and falsely claimed that the allegations were motivated by animosity from the victim’s grandmother, who had previously supervised him while they worked together. Kelley also blamed the victim’s mother for the accusations. A jury found Kelley guilty on both counts.

“What this man did is despicable and he deserves to spend the rest of his life in the dark shadows of a prison cell,” Grogan said. “Given that he’s now 66 years old, with a little bit of luck, he will almost certainly die in that prison cell.”