Yost flip-flopping?

PORT CLINTON — The Ohio attorney general went to great lengths to indict a woman last year for allegedly lying about being raped, and he's pressing ahead toward a Dec. 14 trial in Ottawa County despite setbacks in his case. O'Brien, Yost, Wood and defendant Arica Waters Arica Waters, 29, is charged with two counts of making false alarms; one is a felony and the other a misdemeanor. If she's convicted on the felony she could be sent to a state prison for 18 months. Drew Wood, who works for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, is the prosecutor in State vs. Waters. "The real issue in the case is whether or not (the defendant) reported that she had been raped although she knew she had not been raped," Wood wrote in a recent court motion asking the judge to bar evidence about two prior rape complaints made by other women against the same man Waters accused. The prior complaints surfaced in September after the Register learned about them and reported it. Waters was unaware of the prior incidents when she made her accusation in July 2020, Wood wrote, and "therefore, the (evidence) has no relevance or probative value." But Waters' defense attorney, Sarah Anjum, believes testimony from the other women who filed rape complaints does have evidentiary value — important value — and shows a pattern of alcohol induced sexual violence that fits the definition of rape. Waters It's the same in all three women's complaints, she argues. The man, Yost's lead witness against Waters at trial, "has a modus operandi of assaulting intoxicated women," Anjum wrote in a counter motion asking the judge to allow their testimony. "(He) knew she was likely too intoxicated to give consent, either because of the amount of alcohol he administered or because he drugged her." She has the gavel Visiting Judge Janet Burnside has not provided a final ruling whether the women Yost hopes to silence will be allowed on the witness stand. Burnside set trial for Dec. 14, but with as many as five witnesses who might have relevant testimony it could extend into a multi-day proceeding. Anjum has not said if Waters will testify. Yost is fighting hard to bar the women from testifying but he definitely wants the man they accused to be his key witness against Waters. The other potential witnesses are Ottawa County Sheriff Steve Levorchick and deputy Det. Sgt. Amy Gloor, who this past week told Levorchick she was leaving the force. Gloor investigated Waters' rape complaint and is the person who determined she was lying. "Detective Sgt. Gloor has verbally stated she is retiring but we do not have an official letter yet," deputy Heather Moss, the sheriff's administrative director, replied to an inquiry about Gloor's employment status. Levorchick did not respond to questions about Gloor's departure and whether it's related to Waters' trial. It's not clear if it will have any impact on it, or on Gloor's availability to testify. Levorchick has not responded to multiple requests seeking comment. Wood But, but, but... Yost and Wood might be of two different minds about the prior rape reports. Previously, in court filings, they told the judge the women should be barred from testifying because their statements weren't credible. One "dreamed about" being raped and the other one wanted it, "was a willing participant," they wrote. In the more recent rebuttal they said if the reports are admitted as evidence it would hurt the witness' standing in the eyes of jurors. It "would invite the jury to vote not guilty because they believe that Waters' false accusation was justified based on his (alleged) bad character and (alleged) prior acts," Wood wrote. "There is a danger that the jury would vote not guilty in spite of proof beyond a reasonable doubt." Sexual assault allegations have an "inflammatory nature," he wrote. Yost and Wood are more intent on convicting Waters of falsely accusing the man than they are concerned whether the other accusations by the other women are true, or not, or at least it's not their focus right now. Yost declined previously to investigate either woman's complaint, although Wood contacted one of the women on Friday. For now, it seems clear, Wood does not want the man to be tainted as a witness for the prosecution when Waters' trial gets underway next month. "There is a time and a place for him to be held accountable for sexual assaults he may have committed in 2008, but it is not the Waters' trial for making false alarms. If he committed one or more acts of sexual assault in 2008, then he can be held accountable in a civil or criminal proceedings in which he is named as defendant." Yost didn't identify a time and place in the court filing and declined comment about it. Falsely accused The witness, who is not identified in the court documents, talked with the Register on Sept. 15, with his attorney and a private investigator hired by his attorney also participating in the interview. He said he had consensual sex with Waters but did not rape her. He said he did not know the woman who reported being raped in Hancock County, did not have any kind of sex with her and did not rape her. He also said he was aware a third woman reported being raped, but she later recanted, he said, and it had nothing to do with him. Neither of the other complaints resulted in charges filed against the man. The only charges are the ones against Waters, a Black woman, who was a police officer prior to being indicted in October 2020. The other women are both white. Yost, his chief prosecutor, Carol O'Brien and Wood all have declined to say why they have up until now not spoken with the women but are fighting hard to keep them from testifying at the trial. When he declined to review the prior investigations Yost said the women's complaints were not a priority. He's declined to say why the Waters case is a priority. All three did not respond Saturday when asked if the AG's priority list is being reconsidered or if they are now opening investigations into either of the other reports. It's not known if Wood contacted the third woman who filed a complaint against the witness. Stay in touch The woman told the Register on Friday that Wood called her and wants to meet with her and with Gloor. The woman said she does not have a lawyer and cannot afford one, and she fears it's a trap. She is seeking help through the state's legal aid fund, for which Wood offered no advice. "I can't trust him, he's making fun of me in court motions, like I don't matter," she said. "I wish I could trust him but I can't." She said she asked Wood if a reporter could tag along with her if she meets with him. "He didn't like that idea at all," she said. Wood took information out of context from an investigative report by a Hancock County sheriff's detective in the earlier court motion, she said, to intentionally diminish her and improperly dismiss her complaint. At times she talked in a stilted fashion, seeming to be processing fears she has about it as she spoke, fears about being charged. "It's not right how this is being handled," she said. "It's not right." A pending request The woman previously asked the Hancock County prosecutor to consider charges against the attorney and the private investigator working for the man she accused, who she says falsely accused her of conspiring with Waters and Anjum to fabricate the claim that she was raped. All three women deny the allegation. The prosecutor declined her request, but the Hancock County detective who investigated her rape complaint referred it to the Findlay city prosecutor to consider misdemeanor charges against the men. "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)," Det. Sgt. Jason Seem told the woman in a Nov. 9 email. The man's attorney told the Register he and the private investigator did nothing wrong by telling Seem about their suspicions the women might have colluded to fabricate their complaints. Seem found no connection among the women after subpoenaing their phone records, as they had asked him to do. There's no decision yet from the law director's office on her request. Yost, O'Brien and Wood declined to say if charges are appropriate. They also have declined to say why Waters is the only person charged with making false alarms and how her case is different from the others. * Read more at the story links below.