Cleared cop was suspect in past

PORT CLINTON — Prosecutors say a Put-in-Bay police officer who accused another officer of rape in July 2020 is lying, but they won't say if the man she says raped her has been accused of the same thing before. Arica Waters thatrealityblog.com "It would be inappropriate to comment," Steve Irwin, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's press secretary, told the Register, citing an ongoing investigation and criminal proceedings against Arica Waters, 29, who lives in Lyndhurst. But, if he was accused before of the same thing, that's information that should have been disclosed already, according to the Waters' defense counsel. "They had a constitutional duty to hand those reports over and they have not," said Toledo attorney Sarah Anjum. The Register confirmed that the officer accused of rape — who worked from 2018 to 2020 as a part-time detective for the Put-in-Bay police — has been accused of rape before, at least one other time, and a report from that other investigation states there also is another complaint against him. Both prior incidents happened in 2008, and both women told investigators they, too, were too inebriated to consent, or were drugged by the man, according to police reports. Waters, who accused the officer of raping her last year, also said she was too inebriated to give consent. The other officer was cleared, however, after an investigation determined she was allegedly providing false information about being too inebriated. Waters was indicted by a county grand jury in October, charging her with both felony and misdemeanor counts of falsification. The Ohio Attorney General's Office is acting as special prosecutor in the case, which is being heard by Ottawa County Common Pleas Judge Bruce Winters. Cracking down Anjum called the case against Waters, "very unusual." Irwin declined to say if it is unique, or if filing falsification charges against other alleged "victims" in the same manner as Waters was charged is routine or has happened before. The other women who accused the officer of rape were not charged with falsification. It's unclear why they weren't charged but Waters was. In one case, the alleged victim asked for the investigation to be dropped; in the other, the Hancock County prosecutor said there wasn't evidence to take to a grand jury. The Register has been unable to identify any previous cases in which someone who reported a rape was found to be lying, indicted by a grand jury and subsequently went to trial. Waters' trial is expected to be later this year. Associate AG Drew Wood The police officer Waters accused asked that his name not be used in news articles going forward about Waters' trial. That request is under review. "I have not ever been charged," he told the Register during a sit-down interview on Sept. 15. "I was found to be falsely accused, the victim, of a person with a troubled past." The man's attorney, Mark Petroff, and a private detective who works for Petroff, Rob Slattery, were with the man when he was interviewed at the Register. He said he recently talked with associate attorney general Drew Wood, the state's special prosecutor in Waters' case, and told him about the investigation from the second alleged victim who reported being raped by him. Generally, prosecutors are required to turn over all evidence to a defendant's counsel, including evidence that might help a defendant prove her innocence. It's not clear if Wood intends to obtain the other reports or give them to Anjum. * Coming later this week: Accusers, cop tell their stories