The Fairfax County Police

The Fairfax County Police
Sweeping it under the carpet for over fifty years

Friday, March 16, 2012

Ice Cream Shop Loses Customers After Owner Is Arrested For Child Sex Abuse

DUMFRIES, Va. (CBSDC) — A former Dumfries police officer who now owns a popular ice cream shop was arrested on charges he sexually abused a young boy between 1996 and 2001.

Authorities began investigating JoJo’s Original Soft Serve owner Joseph Ruhren, 41, in 2010 after a 27-year-old Fredericksburg man reported he was sexually assaulted as a child.

The victim, who was between the ages of 12 and 16-years-old at the time, told police the assaults occurred inside his home as well as at a number of residences belonging to Ruhren according to InsideNOVA.

The alleged assaults occurred during Ruhren’s time on the police force.

Authorities charged him with 12 counts of forcible sodomy, four counts of indecent liberties, four counts of carnal knowledge, two counts of crimes against nature and one count of aggravated sexual battery.

Ruhren, who lives in the 3200 block of Riverview Drive in Triangle, is currently being held in the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford on a probation violation stemming from a 2010 conviction for prescription fraud.

Ruhren opened the popular ice cream shop in 2004 following an 18-year career on the police force.