Saturday, September 15, 2018
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A Mahoning County Common Pleas magistrate has issued a protection order against a police officer who is on leave and facing pending sex charges.
Magistrate Timothy Welsh issued the order Sept. 7 against Arthur Carter III, 45, after a woman complained that Carter began harassing her in 2017 in the parking lot of Struthers Middle School.
The petitioner said in her complaint that Carter had harassed her for months at the school when she was waiting for her daughter, and she even changed her routine to try to avoid him but he still managed to find her.
There was no record of any police reports filed by the petitioner in Struthers, where the school is located; or Boardman – the order said police there have jurisdiction where the petitioner lives.
Carter is barred from being less than 500 feet from the petitioner or having any contact with her directly or indirectly. The petitioner does not specify in the order how she knows Carter.
Carter faces charges of rape, sexual battery and unlawful sexual contact with a minor in connection with alleged acts between 2001 and 2009.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Crimes Against Children Unit investigated the case.
Carter was previously indicted in 2017 for sexual acts with a minor alleged to have occurred in 2009. A superseding indictment in April added two more victims who were between age 15 and 18 when the alleged acts occurred.
Carter was employed by the Youngstown Police Department for almost 10 years before he was placed on leave after the accusations. He has been free on bond as his case is pending.
He also was an assistant girls’ track coach for Ursuline High School at the time.