Sex trafficking claims 'unfounded'

PUT-IN-BAY — There's one consistency about this Lake Erie island village and its magnetism to tourists you won't see advertised in travel guides: a history of sexual violence and police misconduct. With under 200 year-round residents, the police department could operate fine as a small agency managing the golf cart traffic, the town folk and keeping the peace, except for tourist season. And through the years, tourist season starts earlier in the year and ends later. Weekends are busy beginning in May and through October, and in the summer months, every day is a holiday with thousands of people arriving by ferry boat ready to party. Hiring more than 30 police officers each year is never an easy task. The pay is low, the hours can be grueling, and, historically, there's been a lack of training. These are temporary jobs, which adds to the difficulty in recruiting and managing summer help. The result has been numerous lawsuits, year after year, almost as predictable as knowing that warmer weather will bring back the tourists. In the past, court cases have alleged everything from police brutality, misconduct, racial profiling and wrongful death to abuse of overtime and on-the-job requirements. And, beginning in 2014, a number of complaints made to the police department were from visitors who reported concerning situations that happened to them, including suspicions that they may have been drugged only to later regain awareness and not know what happened to them while they were out of it. One complaint of a "roofie rape" was made to police and the incident report police filed stated that the alleged victim "did not want to pursue charges." But the woman never said she didn't want to pursue charges. Eventually, a sheriff's detective investigated her accusation and the man was later arrested. He was acquitted at trial, however, after the prosecutor failed to convince a jury she had been drugged. For a time, multiple complaints were filed by visitors to the island alleging they were drugged and unaware what happened to them while they were functionally unconscious. A number of incidents were suspected of being sexual assaults on women who had been drugged. Stay the same Through the last two decades, another thing has been consistent: Complaints to the police department and the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office that prostitution, sex trafficking and other illegal activities are occurring on the island. Complaints about sex trafficking and prostitution also were sent to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, to the FBI, to township trustees, to the county commissioners and the county health department. The Register, through a public records request, received a copy of one of those complaints, and other agencies confirmed they too had received similar complaints. "There have been complaints for several years. In 2020 is when (we) started getting more and more complaints," Sheriff Steve Levorchick said. Put-in-Bay police Chief James Kimble said the complaints have been consistently made for "19 years." The concerns had been raised so many times that Levorchick and Kimble set up a meeting with Yost's organized crime task force about two years ago and asked Yost's team to launch an investigation. "We knew that an investigation by our agencies would probably be compromised because it's common that anytime the sheriff's office or state agencies are on the island by that time everyone is aware of it," Levorchick said. "The chief and I talked to the state of Ohio's organized crime task force and requested assistance," he said. "We met with them and an investigation was conducted." Levorchick and Kimble never received a formal report of the investigation back from the state, but were informed of the results. "We received and passed along the information to them and any of that information was unfounded by the state of Ohio," Levorchick said. On Monday, the Register made a public records request to Yost for access to that investigation. Closed investigations, generally, are considered public record and are subject to disclosure under the Ohio Public Records Act, ORC 149.43. For the record Here is the description provided to Yost for what was being requested under the Public Records Act: "Documents and other records, including the full report of any investigation and any supplemental reports related to a request for an investigation in about 2020 to the organized crime task force (or any other arm of the OAG's office) from the Ottawa County sheriff and the Put-in-Bay police chief into allegations ... (that) illegal activities are occurring, including sex trafficking, prostitution and other unlawful activities (on the island). This request would include notes taken from that meeting and also any audio and/or video recordings, surveillance or other records developed or generated during the course of this investigation." The Register asked that the records be provided within two weeks. This isn't the first time Yost has been questioned regarding his handling of sex crimes. In 2020, as a special prosecutor, he took a woman to trial in Ottawa County for allegedly lying about being raped. He also suggested two other women who accused the same man also weren't telling the truth. The woman was acquitted by a judge, who determined the investigation of her complaint was mishandled and misunderstood, and that she didn't lie. For about 2½ years, Yost has been investigating an alleged serial rapist whose alleged victims were linked through DNA. Those attacks occurred in 2006, 2008 and 2013, but Yost has refused to say why there was such a long period before the cases were linked and whether he will seek an indictment. And earlier this month, Yost suggested on a Fox News Network program that there wasn't a "scintilla of evidence" that a 10-year-old girl from Ohio had been raped. A suspect was arrested two days later, however, and confessed to raping the girl. In the interview on Fox, Yost also did not seem to understand the restrictions in Ohio's abortion ban, which bars abortions even in cases of rape and incest. Yost for months has declined interview requests on these topics.