Hamilton County prosecutors want an Evendale man who worked at a children's stuffed-animal store in Sycamore Township to spend 7½ years in prison for child sexual abuse material charges.

Rain Phoenix-Brown, 24, pleaded guilty Sept. 1 to three counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and one count of tampering with evidence. He faces sentencing Thursday, Oct. 1, before Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Jody Luebbers.

Phoenix-Brown worked at Squishables, a stuffed-animal store at Kenwood Towne Centre, where prosecutors said he regularly encountered children. The store sits on the upper level of the Macy's wing.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Sept. 30, Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Elyse Deters argued Phoenix-Brown poses an "extreme danger" to children, as first reported by WCPO. The state is requesting 18 months on each pandering conviction and 36 months for tampering with evidence, all served consecutively.

Evendale Police Sgt. Pete Faillace, the lead investigator, wrote in a letter to the judge that Phoenix-Brown's job at Squishables "put him in permanent vicinity of his conduct." Faillace also noted Phoenix-Brown worked as a musician for Catholic churches and applied in June 2024 for a babysitting program called Sittercity, writing in the application that he wanted to work with children.

Evendale Police Chief Tim Holloway submitted a separate letter asking for the maximum sentence. Holloway wrote that investigators found "multiple stacks of diapers" in Phoenix-Brown's bedroom.

What investigators found

Evendale police executed a search warrant at Phoenix-Brown's home in February, seizing his cellphone, iPad, laptop and other devices. Forensic examinations uncovered thousands of images depicting AI-generated minors or anime characters engaged in sexual acts, according to WCPO's earlier reporting on the guilty plea.

Prosecutors said forensic evidence also tied Phoenix-Brown to an encrypted MEGA account containing 3,254 uploaded files. Investigators said filenames were consistent with known child sexual abuse material.

According to prosecutors, Phoenix-Brown deleted the MEGA account approximately seven minutes after speaking with law enforcement. He later wrote in a Telegram message that he had "wiped everything" from his phone. That destruction led to the tampering with evidence conviction.

Deters wrote in the memorandum that "the limited amount of illegal content law enforcement was ultimately able to recover should not operate as mitigation when the Defendant himself made the rest unavailable."

Investigators also found photographs of students from St. Susanna grade school on Phoenix-Brown's devices. The memorandum states he accessed the photos through his mother's phone. Those images were not described as child sexual abuse material in court records, and records do not indicate whether Phoenix-Brown personally knew the students.

Defense position

Phoenix-Brown's defense has characterized him as a "non-contact offender" who has not personally perpetrated a sexual offense against a minor, according to the prosecution's memorandum. The defense cited childhood trauma and mental health treatment as mitigating factors. No statement from Phoenix-Brown's defense attorney appears in public filings reviewed for this article.

A defense-commissioned assessment found Phoenix-Brown was "amenable to treatment." Prosecutors countered that the assessment did not recommend probation or determine whether he could safely be supervised in the community.

Prosecutors also noted Phoenix-Brown had previously been interviewed by the FBI regarding child sexual abuse material activity. The state argued that prior law enforcement contact did not deter him and that he became more sophisticated in using encrypted platforms.

Phoenix-Brown had originally pleaded not guilty in March before entering his guilty plea. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to pursue additional tampering and related charges through the grand jury.

Anyone with information related to child exploitation can contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or submit a tip at CyberTipline.org.