Ohio cop arrested; accused of crimes against a child



An on-duty Youngstown Police officer is arrested by his own department, and accused of misconduct with a child.

On May 30, Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene received information from Children Services that during an interview with a young sexual assault victim, she alleged feeling victimized all over again. This time, by the Youngstown Police officer handling her case.

Sheriff Greene immediately reported the allegations to Youngstown Police Chief Rod Foley and they agreed to call in the state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Now, instead of enforcing the law, Detective-Sergeant Robert Lodwick is accused of breaking it.

The Youngstown Police patrol supervisor was pulled off the road and asked to return to police headquarters sometime during the early morning hours Friday and that's when he was arrested.

As Lodwick appeared by video arraignment before a Judge, it was made clear that he was in protective custody and receiving threats from other inmates who had to be locked down.

Youngstown's Chief Prosecutor Dana Lantz requested a $50,000 cash bond on each of the felony charges, and told Judge Robert Milich, "The victim in this case is the victim of a rape case wherein he was the detective assigned to that case, and by right should have been protecting her, not soliciting her as alleged in the complaint."

The Judge ordered that Lodwick be held on a total bond of $100,000 cash.

Lodwick did not enter a plea to the felony charges of illegal use of a minor in sexually oriented material and importuning.

If Lodwick is able to make his bail, the judge has ordered that he be placed on house arrest and he is not allowed to have any contact with the young victim.

Lodwick, a 13-year veteran of the police force is married with a child and is an Iraq War veteran, who was promoted to a supervisory position in the Youngstown Police Department in December of 2012.

Authorities say he copied a disc of naked photos of his 14-year-old victim and solicited her over the Internet or cell phone for sex. Sources say he has confessed to the crimes.

"Two words come to my mind. Disappointed and disgusted," said Youngstown Police Chief Foley.

In just over a week, the undercover probe of Sergeant Lodwick allegedly cemented the case against him, according Joe Dietz, the Special Agent Supervisor of BCI's Cyber Crimes Unit.

"Based on our initial interview with the victim -- one of our cyber crimes agents became involved in an undercover chat with Sergeant Lodwick," said Dietz.

The investigation moved quickly to gather enough evidence to secure an arrest, and the priority was to protect the young victim and the public.

"They expect to trust us. We felt that we lost that trust a little bit today and we have to gain it back. This is why we needed to do this very quickly. Hopefully, there's not other victims out there," said Chief Foley.

Lodwick is currently on paid administrative leave.

Original report here




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