Prosecutor gets rape complaint

PORT CLINTON — A prosecutor in east-central Ohio will head up an investigation into whether a 2008 rape complaint was mishandled by the Ottawa County sheriff's office. Lindsey Donehue-Angler, Guernsey County prosecutor Guernsey County Prosecutor Lindsey Donehue-Angler confirmed there is an open investigation, an assignment from visiting Judge Linton Lewis. "I will not be commenting on or providing information on any open and pending investigation," Donehue-Angler responded to the Register when asked about the assignment. The Register asked Donehue-Angler to confirm the assignment and also to advise what law enforcement agency would be assisting in the investigation. She declined to say which police department or sheriff's office would be assisting. The Register made a public records request to Donehue-Angler asking for public records related to her assignment as special prosecutor and the parameters of the investigation she was asked to conduct. Records related to the assignment and the scope of the investigation being requested are public records, the Register contends. Donehue-Angler suggested that no records of the assignment exist, and any records that do exist are part of an ongoing investigation and exempted under the law. The Register asked for records given to her before the investigation was started, which are not exempted under the law. Ottawa County Prosecutor James VanEerten asked the Ohio Supreme Court to appoint a visiting judge to oversee a review of the 2008 rape complaint after questions arose about whether the woman was persuaded not to pursue charges. Judge Lewis was appointed earlier this month. The man she allegedly accused was accused last year in another rape complaint, which a detective determined was a false accusation against the man. The prior complaint was not disclosed or reviewed during the later investigation, however, and the 2008 report stated the woman said she might have been a willing participant, which is allegedly untrue. The woman who accused the same man last year — Arica Waters — is scheduled to stand trial next month on a felony falsification charge, and could be sentenced to 18 months in prison if she's convicted. She maintains she was raped. The man acknowledged he had consensual sex with Waters but said he did not rape her. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost agreed to prosecute Waters when no other prosecutor would. It's unclear why he is prioritizing this case and not looking at the other two rape complaints. The man Waters accused has been accused of rape three times. He will be Yost's lead witness in State vs. Waters. The man told the Register he was aware that another woman filed a rape complaint in 2008, but he said it had nothing to do with him. A third woman also filed a rape complaint accusing the same man of raping her in 2008, but no charges were ever filed in that case either. The man told the Register he does not know that woman, did not have sex with her and did not rape her. * Read related stories at the links below.