Rape reports under review

FINDLAY — The Hancock County prosecutor is declining a woman's request that he open an investigation into whether an attorney and a private investigator working for a man she accused of raping her made false allegations about her and two other women. But prosecutor Phil Riegle referred her request to the Findlay city law director, according to the detective who investigated her initial complaint in June. "I have forwarded a copy of this report to the law director's office for review of Failure To Aid a Law Enforcement Officer (ORC 2921.23) and Making False Alarms (ORC 2917.32)," Hancock County Det. Sgt. Jason Seem told the woman in a Nov. 9 email. Both charges are misdemeanors. In the meantime, the woman said she fears she could be charged because another woman who accused the same man faces a felony trial beginning next month for allegedly making up a story about being raped by him. Yost Register photo The man told an Ottawa County detective investigating that complaint that he had consensual sex with that woman but did not rape her. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost complied with his request, taking it to a grand jury and indicting the woman, Arica Waters, 29, in October 2020. The woman in Hancock County said she fears she could be similarly targeted by Yost, or some other prosecutor, because she reported being raped. The man and his attorney, along with a private investigator, told Seem they had gathered information that suggested the two women conspired to make up stories about being raped. They wanted her to be charged, according to Seem's report. The attorney said it was Seem's investigation and up to him how it proceeded. "If she's fabricated things, she should be charged accordingly, as anyone should be," his attorney said. They asked Seem to subpoena phone records, which he did, but no connection was found. Seem did not find any evidence that the women even knew each other, according to his report. The man's attorney said Seem subpoenaed the records on his own. Riegle, the Hancock County prosecutor, in September said there was no evidence to take to a grand jury concerning the woman's rape complaint, and he declined to pursue charges against the man. The man she accused denied even knowing the woman and said he did not rape her and did not have sex with her. Yost has not said whether he will pursue falsification charges against her, the same as he did in the Waters' case. The attorney representing the man she accused told the Register on Thursday that he and the private investigator did nothing wrong sharing their concerns with the detective. Another visiting judge In a related case, an investigation conducted after a third woman accused the same man of raping her in 2008 will be reviewed to determine if it was mishandled. Retired Perry County Common Pleas Court Judge Linton Lewis was appointed to preside and select a special prosecutor for the task. Yost earlier refused to serve in that role, saying the third woman's rape allegation was not a priority for his office. In the court filings in Waters' case, Yost suggested the woman was a "willing participant" and not a rape victim, although he didn't conduct an independent investigation of her complaint. Ottawa County prosecutor James VanEerten asked for a visiting judge and a special prosecutor to investigate the claim the investigation was mishandled. Ottawa County Sheriff Steve Levorchick, a captain at the time, allegedly told the woman the man claimed she was a willing participant and persuaded her to stop the investigation. He also failed to disclose the earlier investigation to his detective when she was investigating Waters' complaint against the same man in July 2020. Levorchick said earlier that the investigation was not mishandled and that he did not persuade the woman in any way. He said he never interviewed the suspect. Levorchick did not respond when contacted Friday and Saturday to comment for this news story. * Editor's note: This story has been changed to add comment from the man's attorney about subpoenaed phone records and what he said he told the detective about charges. Read related stories at links below.