Court upholds sex offender's prison sentence

FREMONT — An Ohio court upheld the prison sentence Friday of a Fremont man convicted for having a relationship with a teenage girl.Thomas Kubat, 39, was sentenced to 10 years prison after he pleaded no contest to five counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in the Sandusky County Common Pleas Court in 2013.Kubat appealed the severity of his sentence, but the sixth district appellate court decided his appeal "lacks merit and is overruled," according to court documents.His conviction resulted from a year-long relationship he had with a 14-year-old girl when he was 34 years old. Kubat gave her a cellphone, so she wouldn't use the one her parents gave her to message him. The victim claimed he threatened her and her family when she tried to break up with him on multiple occasions.A Sandusky County grand jury indicted him on 11 counts each of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and rape in 2012, but the rape charges were eventually dropped.Later in the year, Kubat agreed to plead no contest to five counts of unlawful sexual conduct. A no contest plea means he acknowledges the truth of the facts presented in the indictment but doesn't admit guilt.Common pleas Judge Robert Hart sentenced him to five years for each count and decided two of the sentences should be served consecutively for a total prison sentence of 10 years.In his appeal, the Kubat argued his prison sentence was unsupported by evidence, but the appellate court found the record shows the sentence was consistent with the seriousness of the offense.Kubat is serving his sentence in the North Central Correctional Institution. He's scheduled to be released Dec. 2023. He'll be required to register as a sex offender.Reach reporter Michael Harrington at michaelharrington@sanduskyregister.com, follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegister