Former officer found guilty in retrial of sex charges
A Centerville man and former police officer was found guilty of sex charges from his high school years for which a jury in December couldn’t reach a verdict.
Peyton Kocevar, 24, was convicted Tuesday of two counts of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office. A jury last year found him guilty of one count of rape and not guilty of four counts of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition.
He will be sentenced May 17 on the convicted charges from both trials.
Kocevar was accused of sexual misconduct involving multiple teens while he was in high school in Centerville and Kettering. The incidents reportedly took place between 2012 and 2016 during the time when he would have been between 14 and 17 years old, Centerville police and prosecutors said. Kocevar in 2019 joined the Waynesville Police Department as a part-time officer. He was fired in 2020 after his indictment.
Multiple victims reported Kocevar forced himself on them, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Kocevar’s defense team previously said he denies the accusations.
Kocevar had remained free on a $100,000 bond but was taken into custody Tuesday following his conviction and booked into the Montgomery County Jail.