Madden, a Fairfield High School and Miami University graduate, was also declared a Tier III sex offender on Thursday, which requires him to register his residence with his local sheriff’s office every 90 days for the rest of his life. However, community notification will not apply to Madden.
Charlie H. Rittgers, Madden’s defense attorney, argued against the community notification for the Tier III sex offender status, which Judge Keith Spaeth granted.
Spaeth stated the victim Madden had sex with was 18 and just weeks from graduation.
“This does not involve young children … children of a tender age,” Spaeth said, adding Madden has no previous criminal history. “(Community notification) punishes this defendant for the rest of his life and offers no real benefit for the security of the community.”
Madden has been married for six years, according to defense attorneys. One half of the courtroom was filled with Madden’s supporters who waited for a couple hours for the case to be called. Several wrote letters of support and his wife and parents stood up when Rittgers said they were present.
It was Ruby Lee, the grandmother of Madden’s wife, Stephanie, who spoke in support.
“He is my grandson, too,” Lee said. “He has been a rock in our family.”
Lee said Madden has always been willing to lend a hand, helping her after her husband died.
“He has just made bad judgments. He is not a bad person,” Lee said. “I just beg for mercy. He is a very smart young man, and he could be a very valuable member of society.”
Neither victim nor their families were in court, but the judge said he had read victim impact statements from them. One father, he said, believes Madden should get the maximum penalty.
Madden also addressed the judge asking him for a chance to “show that I am better than my recent actions.”
“For the past year, my life has been turned upside down like a hellish nightmare I can’t seem to wake up from,” Madden said.
He said in the future he wants to talk to men’s groups, teachers and other sex offenders about what he has been through and learned.
New Miami Local School District Superintendent Patrica Blake said the entire district has been dealing with the ripple effects of Madden’s actions the entire school year.
“It is a very, very upsetting situation,” Blake said, noting Madden was a well-liked, trusted teacher, and his arrest divided the district with some believing the allegations and others not.
Blake said the fallout will take a long time to repair.
According to the bill of particulars, the sexual conduct occurred between April 1 and May 28. Between June 1 and Aug. 31, Madden sent messages to a student stating he wanted to perform sexual acts on her.
When the Butler County Sheriff’s Office investigation began, Madden asked the girl to “deny her relationship with him, which she did to investigators,” according to the court documents.
In September, Madden told the one of the girls to “delete me from Facebook, your phone, Snapchat pics, all of it … erase my number or anything you got that ties back to me, please and thank you.”
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