Vice unit not aware of concerns before arrest

The comCOLUMBUS — mander of the Columbus police vice unit told investigators no concerns were expressed to him or his officers, but the city attorney’s office says otherwise.

When Columbus Cit y Attorney Zach Klein announced July 18 that his office would no longer prosecute cases of inappropriate touching at strip clubs after the arrest of adult film actress Stormy Daniels and two other women, the com- mander of the police vice unit said it was the first time anyone in the unit had been told about any concerns with the law, according to records.

Cmdr. Terry Moore, who was head of the vice unit in July, said in an interview related to an ongoing inter- nal affairs investigation of the suspended unit that he had been involved in meet- ings with multiple representatives of the city attorney’s office in January and February 2018. During those meetings, no concerns were expressed about enforcing the Community Defense Law on illegal touching, Moore told investigators.

Some of Moore’s state- ments to investigators were obtained through a public-records request related to the ongoing internal affairs probe into whether Daniels’ arrest was politically motivated because she said she had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump before he became president.

The city attorney’s office said in a statement that the meetings had taken place, as well as other meetings prior to January 2018.

Those concerns involved the section of the state law used to file charges because police officers, even those working undercover, would not be considered patrons, the city attorney’s office said. So if a dancer inappropriately touched an undercover officer, charges could not be filed for that touching.

But Moore told police divi- sion investigators that vice officers had no reason to believe their actions were not supported by the city attorney’s office prior to July 11, when Daniels and two other workers were arrested.

Charges against Daniels and the two women arrested with her were dismissed and some of the women charged or convicted in 38 other cases in the previous 10 months were potentially going to have their cases reopened, the city attorney’s office said.

Klein’s July 18 news release said his office would no longer accept charges or prosecute cases under the no-touching law because of vague language. “We have recognized there is a glar- ing inequitable application of the law,” Klein said.

The same day, vice officers were told in an email from Deputy Chief Tim Becker that no officers were permitted to go into a strip club for work unless there was a specific complaint. That still stands.

“If the city attorney’s office had concerns, how did they not intervene in those other cases?” asked Keith Ferrell, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9. “How is this the first time we’ve dropped charges?”

Klein’s office has said neither political pressure nor the threat of legal action against the city by Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, played a role in the charges being dropped.

“That decision, and the policy change that our office would no longer enforce that code section, were based on the fact that the law was inequitable and these charges were legally problematic to be prosecuted,” Klein’s office said in a statement.

An internal investigation into the actions of the vice officers in the arrest of Daniels and the two other women is ongoing. Records show that the investigation has involved the review of at least 11,600 emails and at least seven division-issued cellphones.

The two women arrested with Daniels have filed a federal lawsuit against the four vice officers involved in their arrests.

The vice unit remains on suspension pending the outcome of an internal review and an investigation by the FBI’s Public Corruption Task Force, which is ongoing.