Police officer accused of raping girlfriend posts bond
The Cleveland CLEVELAND — police officer accused of pistol-whipping and raping his then-girlfriend at gunpoint has posted bond.
Tommie Griffin III remains in a Cuyahoga County Jail, two days after a relative posted a $20,000 cash deposit as he awaits trial on rape, felonious, kidnapping, tampering with records, pandering obscenity and telephone harassment in the Jan. 14 attack.
Court officials say Griffin, 51, will be released from jail when a GPS ankle monitor is available.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Maureen Clancy lowered his bond Feb. 23 from $250,000 cash to 10 percent of $200,000.
Griffin, who resigned from the department late last month, will remain under house arrest while he is free on bond. He can only leave home to go to court appearances and medical appointments, according to court records.
The court’s probation department will also give him weekly drug and alcohol tests. If he fails a test, he will be arrested, records say.
Griffin is accused of attacking his 42-year-old girlfriend one day after he found her with another man inside their home.
Griffin was wearing his police uniform when he pistol-whipped her with his service weapon and punched her in the face several times, according to prosecutors. He also fired two shots into the mattress of her bed, inches from her head, court records say.
He ordered the woman to take a shower, then forced her to the basement, pointed the gun at her again, forced her to perform a sex act on him at gunpoint, according to police.
Griffin then left the house and went to a tavern in North Royalton, where police arrested him at gunpoint.
Griffin is also accused of sending lewd photographs of a person involved in the investigation to undisclosed persons, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors seized more than 60 guns during a search of his home after his January arrest, including 50 pistols and multiple assault rifles and a submachine gun.
Griffin was hired as a Cleveland police officer in 1994. He was awarded the department’s distinguished service medal in 2009.