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Ohio AG's Office files criminal charges against ex-Campbell police chief
By Sarah Lehr
CAMPBELL
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has filed criminal charges against former Campbell Police Chief Andrew Rauzan related to improper personal use of a law-enforcement database.
Prosecutors filed a bill of information Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The bill of information is an indication that Rauzan will agree to a plea deal, Rauzan’s attorney Damian Billak said. Rauzan agreed to the four misdemeanor counts of unauthorized use of property.
Rauzan is due in common pleas court Aug. 28 for a hearing.
Daniel Kasaris, a special prosecutor with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, began investigating Rauzan last year after an allegation of sexual harassment.
The investigation was at the request of the county prosecutor’s office.
Jill Del Greco, an attorney general’s office spokeswoman, said the criminal charges against Rauzan came to light over the course of the agency’s investigation. She said, however, she could not comment on whether his purported misuse of a law-enforcement database related directly to the allegation of sexual harassment that prompted the investigation.
A 25-year-old woman reported that Rauzan invited her to the police station July 27, 2016, to take care of a warrant for her arrest due to failure to appear on an expired-license-plate charge. The woman wrote that Rauzan offered to show her the police gym, according to a statement given to city officials.
The woman reported that while in the gym, Rauzan rubbed himself against her, asked her if she wanted to play a game and told her to get down on her knees with her hands behind her head. The woman wrote she declined and responded “yes” to Rauzan’s question about whether she was uncomfortable. She reported Rauzan rubbed himself against her again and made a comment about his genitals.
After the woman reported the incident to Mayor Nick Phillips on Sept. 2, the mayor placed Rauzan on paid administrative leave Sept. 6 pending further investigation.
After a preliminary inquiry by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, a division of the attorney general’s office, the mayor fired Rauzan on Nov. 7.
The city agreed in January, however, to retroactively rescind Rauzan’s termination in exchange for his resignation.
The agreement prohibited Rauzan from suing the city for wrongful termination. Rauzan waived his right to appeal his firing before the city’s civil service commission.
The Vindicator filed a public-records request Sept. 8 for Rauzan’s personnel file. The city released those records Tuesday.
Those records detail other sexual-harassment allegations against Rauzan.
A female police department employee reported several weeks after Rauzan’s termination in November 2016 that she was at a party with other employees in 2015 when Rauzan started having sex with another woman in front of her.
The female employee said she expressed disapproval and got up to leave. She said Rauzan told her not to tell anyone what happened.
The same woman also reported Rauzan had acted inappropriately toward her in 2013 before she was hired by the department. She said Rauzan took her on a ride-along and spoke mostly about sex. He then exposed himself and asked her if she liked it, the woman said, according to an internal police filing.
Campbell Law Director Brian Macala said the city forwarded the employee’s allegations to the Ohio BCI.
In response to those sexual-harassment allegations, Billak said, “Those are in the past and have been dealt with.”
Asked for his own response, Rauzan issued a statement blasting the mayor, characterizing the sexual harassment allegations as “slanderous” and “false,” and contending they are “purely political and the community knows it. Phillips wanted to destroy the changes enacted in the Campbell Police Department put in place by our team, and he has indeed succeeded for now – but nothing lasts forever.”
In reference to the criminal charges filed against him by the state, he said, “I own my mistakes. After a year of looking into my professional life, the State of Ohio has concluded that these misdemeanor cases concerning my use of the OHLEG system was the proper course of action to pursue against me. I served the Campbell community dilgently (sic).”