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Bus Driver Faces Charges

By FRED CONNORS Staff Writer
POSTED: November 10, 2009

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After Leonard Braynen serves 10 years in a West Virginia prison, he may be deported from the United States.

Braynen, 34, a Bahamian national, will serve 10 to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to one count of second-degree sexual assault before Ohio County Circuit Judge Arthur Recht .

Braynen entered a plea for his involvement in the April 3 assault of an Ohio college student.

Assistant Ohio County Prosecutor Shawn Turak said Braynen, an Urban Express Bus Company driver, delivered a group of students from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, for a weekend stay at a local cabin.

She said the victim had been drinking heavily on the bus and upon arrival to the cabin, friends helped her change into night clothes and go to bed.

"The friends check on her regularly to be sure she was all right and upon one check, they saw the defendant exiting (the victim's) room and found the victim undressed," Turak said. "The victim told her friends she had been raped."

She said DNA evidence and other testimony linked Braynen to the assault.

In addition to the jail time, Recht ordered that upon release from prison, Braynen must register as a sex offender with the West Virginia State Police and that he be subjected to 50 years of supervised release.

Defense attorney Robert McCoid said the sexual offender registry and supervised release stipulations of the sentence may not apply since his client could be deported upon release from prison.

Upon McCoid's request, Recht said he would recommend that Braynen serve his time on the West Virginia Department of Corrections side of the Northern Regional Jail at Moundsville to accommodate family members who may be flying into Pittsburgh for visits.

 
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View Comments: | 1-2 | Post a comment
CenterWheeling
11-11-09 11:06 AM
Three jeers for the bus driver, the bus driver, the bus driver!

lawobserver
11-10-09 4:49 PM
10 years is not enough for this crime, even if it leads to the defendant's deportation. The West Virginia legislature should look to increase the minimum sentence for sexual assaults of this nature.

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