The Enquirer42%
Man sentenced for sexually assaulting girl who used 'Lion's Roar' 10%
By Jane Park29%
7/23/2026, 8:51:40 PM
Keywords: Sex Offender, Sexual Assault, Rape, Sentencing, Child Abuse, Lions Roar, Scouting, South Lebanon, Warren County
BS Summary: This article contains 12 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Availability Heuristic, and Halo Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 14.8% saturation with 50 hits. Analysis detected 270 faulty-reasoning hits from 337 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 26.7% and a BS Rank of 10% (19,190 of 21,198 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 90.50% of the article peer group.
A repeat sex offender is set to spend decades in prison after sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl who used a "Lion's Roar" technique to fend him off earlier this year.
Robert DeWeese, 37, pleaded guilty to rape, gross sexual imposition, kidnapping and abduction on July 23 in Warren County Common Pleas Court, according to a prosecutor's office news release.
Judge Robert Peeler sentenced him to 30 to 35½ years in prison.
The Feb. 6 incident occurred at a Five Below store in South Lebanon.
Her mother, who was getting her daughter a change of clothes, instructed her daughter not to open the door to the restroom unless she heard a special knock signal.
DeWeese, who overheard this conversation, waited until the mother had left before simulating the particular knock and sexually assaulting the girl in the bathroom.
Using a technique she learned in scouting called the "Lion's Roar," the girl shouted “Stop!”
as loud as she could, which startled the attacker and caused him to flee.
Warren County sheriff's deputies later located DeWeese at a relative's house nearby and arrested him.
"This little girl showed quick thinking when she used ‘The Lions Roar’ to stop this sexual assault,” Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said in the release.
DeWeese had a prior conviction for gross sexual imposition in Fairfield County, Ohio.
According to court documents, he touched an 11-year-old girl while waiting in line at a Lancaster Dollar Tree in 2021.
He was initially sentenced to five years probation and ordered to participate in treatment.
Court documents state he repeatedly failed to complete the treatment and was sentenced to three years in prison.
Based on his sentence, he was likely released in mid-2024.
DeWeese also has convictions from 2019 in Licking County for public indecency and voyeurism.
He is currently held at Warren County Jail as of the afternoon of July 23.
The Enquirer reached out to DeWeese's attorney for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
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