Man sentenced in Tiffin University sexual-battery case

6/10/2006

TIFFIN - A former Tiffin University student was sentenced Thursday in Seneca County Common Pleas Court to two years in prison for sexual battery against a female student.

Ioan N. Harmath, 21, an international student from Romania, also will be classified as a sexually oriented offender and will face deportation proceedings by immigration authorities for his conviction for a felony sex crime, Seneca County Prosecutor Ken Egbert, Jr., said.

Harmath was sentenced by Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Kelbley.

Harmath was found guilty of sexual battery, a third-degree felony, following a four-day jury trial in March.

Harmath was attending Tiffin University on a soccer scholarship when in December, 2005, he attended a campus-area party with friends where alcohol was served. After a 21-year-old female student, whom he knew was impaired because of alcohol consumption, passed out, Harmath had sex with her at his residence, Mr. Egbert said.