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September 29, 2005
Man Accused Of Raping Boys He Taught In Home
ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- A Rocky River man is accused of raping two young boys in a school he ran from his home.
Phillip Distasio was indicted Wednesday on 25 counts of rape and 9 counts of disseminating matter harmful to children and corrupting children with drugs.
Distasio, a self-professed pagan friar, ran a school from his Wooster Road apartment where the two children, ages 11 and 12, were dropped off to be taught, officials said. The boys are autistic.
Cuyahoga County Bill Mason said Distasio was arrested in August after he wanted to write a blog for the Lakewood Library. Officials noticed something was wrong and notified Rocky River police.
Officers raided Distasio's home and found journals that described the sex acts performed with the boys, and pictures of the acts were found on his computer.
According to the journals, Distasio's two victims were so helpless they could never tell anyone what happened.
"The defendant describes acts in which he had autistic children and he did what I would call sadistic sexual acts with these children," said Mason.
The school he ran from his apartment was called Class Cutters. According to Distasio's Web site, students and parents chose the curriculum in the school for unique children.
But prosecutors say it was little more than a trap that snared one victim and then another.
"Like all predators he used this one child to bring other children to him and that's what was happening, and that's how he got his second victim," said Mason.
And prosecutors believe there may be more victims.
Distasio has a history of working with children dating back 10 years.
Mason said he had a history of working for the Lakewood YMCA, and that he worked for Cuyahoga County under the Positive Education Program, along with the home schooling.
Distasio remains behind bars. He will be arraigned Monday morning.
Posted by Nealus at September 29, 2005 01:44 AM
