Ohio man sentenced to 42+ years for human trafficking

LIMA – A Bluffton man was convicted of 15 felony charges for trafficking a minor that he and his girlfriend controlled by getting her addicted to narcotics and fueling that addiction.

On Friday, Grant Rose, 58, was found guilty in Allen County Common Pleas Court of one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity (F1), thirteen counts of trafficking in persons (F1), and one count of promoting prostitution (F4).

Rose was immediately sentenced to 42.5 years behind bars.

Rose’s co-defendant, Susan Walendzik, 43, pleaded guilty on February 1 to two counts of trafficking in persons (F1). Under the plea agreement, she will serve a mandatory sentence of 18 years in prison and, after her release, be required to register as a Tier 2 sex offender for 25 years.

An investigation conducted by the Lima Police Department found that, from July 2018 to December 2020, Rose and Walendzik trafficked the juvenile.

“This couple sowed the seeds of degradation: addiction, violence and sexual abuse – and will now reap the grim reality of decades behind bars,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “My hope is that these sentences empower the once-victim, to recognize she’s a survivor so she can reclaim her true identity.”

The case was prosecuted by Special Prosecutor Jennifer Rausch, legal director for the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Initiative.