By
LAURIE HUFFMAN
Former
Minerva police officer Timothy A. Patterson was sentenced to nine years in
prison Thursday after accepting a plea deal for a crime involving one youth and
three children.
The
58-year-old, residing at 105 W. Line St. in Minerva, entered a plea of guilty
to amend charges against him consisting of two counts of first-degree felony
rape, seven counts of third-degree felony gross sexual imposition and one count
of third-degree bribery.
According
to Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Katie Chawla, who handled the case, the
two rape charges were amended to a different section of the rape statute that
eliminated the possibility of Patterson serving a life sentence. That was done
in order to permit resolution of the case.
Chawla
reported three of the youth are currently 11 years old, and she said one child,
who was the basis of the majority of the charges, was 6 when the court
determined the rapes began, in 2007. The rapes continued until they were
reported to police in 2012.
Patterson
was also charged with seven counts of gross sexual imposition and with bribery.
Chawla
indicated allegations based on one of the charges he plead to involved
Patterson offering something of benefit to the mother of one of the victims if
she didn't go to the police.
"Some
of the charges Patterson pleaded to involved a game of dirty truth or
dare," Chawla also reported.
Chawla
indicated the court action was a negotiated plea agreement because the families
didn't want their children to have to testify in court. In addition to
incarceration, Common Pleas Court Judge Kristin Farmer also sentenced Patterson
to be registered as a Tier III sex offender. Tier III offenders are subject to
strict address verification, and the community and the victim(s) receive
notification whenever such an offender relocates to a new address.
Patterson
started working for the Minerva Police Department in 1987 and continued as a
full-time and part-time employee there for many years, even being praised for
his work at one time as an Officer of the Month. Patterson left the police
force to take another job that was not involved in law enforcement.
A
secret grand jury indictment was issued against Patterson on Feb. 24 and a
warrant for his arrest was issued by Judge Kristin Farmer of Common Pleas Court
on the same day. He was taken into custody on March 13 by an unidentified U.S.
marshal and Stark County Deputy John VonSpiegel. The arrest was conducted by
the Northern Ohio Fugitive Task Force, and VonSpiegel was working as a part of
the unit at the time.