February 8, 2008  

Hope Steffey Update: State Attorney General To Investigate

by matttbastard

Larry Shields of the Salem News reports that Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson has officially requested that Ohio Attorney General Mark Dan “review all the circumstances surrounding the arrest and incarceration of Hope Steffey in October of 2006,” a vicious incident labelled “way out of line” by Cuyahoga county Sheriff Gerald McFaul (h/t ThePoliticalCat).  

Additionally, Muriel Kane of The Raw Story reports that video footage taken prior to the now-infamous strip search tape may exist, noting that “jailhouse surveillance cameras show a deputy with a handheld camera filming Steffey being escorted to her cell.” 

Kane also suggests that dashboard video of the arrest, originally believed to be non-existent because the arresting officer claimed the camera was off, may not have been disclosed to Steffey’s lawyers. 

Just remember, kids: Steffey is a convicted criminal; don’t let THE MEDIA (and ur lyin’ eyes) deceive you; that’s Sheriff Swanson’s duty.

*blinks* 

Previously: Obey: The Sequel.

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49 Responses to “Hope Steffey Update: State Attorney General To Investigate”

  1. thepoliticalcat says :

    Thank you for linking to our humble blog at La Casa de Los Gatos! We have, as is our wont, blogrolled you immediately forthwith. We’ll be back.

  2. JWrath says :

    The Cleveland Sheriffs are calling this “way out of line”. Take the time to thank the Sheriff of Cuyahoga county for his comments…cops usually always take cops sides, but Gerald T. McFaul is a man of honor who agrees this was wrong…thank him if you will as I have already done. Please take the time to send appreciation to the Cuyahoga Sheriff for taking a stand on this…

    shcuy@cuyahogacounty.us

  3. Andy Real says :

    You write: “Just remember, kids: Steffey is a convicted criminal;”

    Then you kindly link to a news item that never mentions Steffey as being convicted of anything.

    So what, pray tell, was Hope Steffey convicted of?

    And for the rest of you who can not spot a person spreading disinformation: look for simple, declarative falsehoods.

    Notice he says “the media” — well… try a Google News search for Hope Steffey — the “media” that this dude is warning you about already has already achieved almost a complete shutdown on this. There are about five Ohio sources and that is IT in the mainstream media.

    Sorry bubba, you’re exposed.

  4. matttbastard says :

    Andy, are you for real? You have to be the dumbest motherfucker to ever hit ‘submit’ at this here blog–and brother, there have been some dumb motherfuckers who’ve decided to comment here.

    Newsflash: I WAS BEING SARCASTIC IN RESPONSE TO SWANSON’S CYA PRESS RELEASE. Y’know, snark? The lubricant that keeps the wheels of the blogosphere turning?

    Also, according to the article I kindly linked to, Steffey was “charged and later convicted in Alliance Municipal Court of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest”. That’s not a moral judgment on the legitimacy of the conviction, which I obviously think is suspect–it’s an unfortunate fact that the Stark County Sheriff is trying to exploit as a means of discrediting Steffey.

    Did you even bother to read my previous post on Hope Steffey, asshat?

  5. joey says :

    i luv cops

  6. Larry Maxwell says :

    Question: does anyone have info as to the details of her trial, or was it a case of pleading out to a misdemeanor? This will probably come out in the May hearing for the lawsuit. AFAIK, nobody has offered up any commentary on whatever court hearing she had. The circumstances may be interesting, as I recall a prosecuting attorney is named in the suit. I could be wrong about this.

  7. raul duke says :

    i hope she sues every one of those who removed her clothing for no reason. not a strip search the sheriff says.. and i suppose hes right.. there was no intent to search, only to strip. these pieces of shit deserve a long prison sentence, even the females who were present.

  8. In America says :

    Read the Nuremberg trials, and the pretrial
    material on tactics used by the Gestapo, then
    Stasi after WWII, and so on. Some of the most
    sadistic were small to medium town and
    those in the German equivilent of counties.

  9. Ed in Ohio says :

    I believe that the Sheriff should be FIRED because it happen on his watch and the other deputies should be sitting in jail for Rape of these women. I have emailed all the new station across this country and it got on CBS this morning. I have also asked the AJ office to give me some kind of answer on why no charges have been filed with those deputies. I think everyone the reads this needs to send a letter the AJ office just so we can get them motivated and do something. I have no dog in this fight but think what happen was wrong.

    Ed

  10. Charles in Charge says :

    You can contact Tim Swanson, Stark County Sheriff responsible for this at:

    strkshrf@raex.com

  11. Angel says :

    why are the videos removed from the internet? do they have a strong control over this? and even web contents?

  12. El Jefe says :

    The videos are still available at the WKYC web site.

    http://search.wkyc.com/sp?aff=100&keywords=hope+steffey

    The first is the original story, the second the follow up about possible missing video, and the third is from a month later, about other women who have complained of similar treatment in the Stark County jail.

  13. Bob King says :

    In which I speculate idly about The Timster’s Turgid Trooper, their motivations and early influences.

    Illustrated. :>

  14. john454 says :

    The sheriff accuses the news of just showing parts of the video, to get sympathy for Hope Steffy, when the news denies this, he THEN admits that he doesn’t know what video they have.

    So the news asks for ALL video & audio that the sheriff’s dept has.

    http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx…

    As of 04-14-2008 the sheriff’s dept has still NOT turned over all the video to Steffy’s lawyers or to the news.
    One can only suspect that if this video was this bad the rest would certainly put them in jail for a long time.

    The building video CLEARLY shows her being taped, while what looks to be the whole night shift, (4 men & 4 women) parade her down the hall. I guess the Sheriff’s web page that calls this a ‘unpleasant’ duty for his officers, doesn’t realize they have made a spectator sport out of it.
    Link to Steffy’s lawsuit:
    http://pamelahennessy.com/steffey.pdf

    CUT&PASTE:
    21. Gurlea drove to the Sheriff’s office with Hope in the back seat of his cruiser. On arrival at the Sheriff’s office, Gurlea left Hope in his cruiser for about 5 minutes and spoke with another deputy. It is unknown what was said by Gurlea to the other deputy. Gurlea then returned and told Hope to do exactly what the Sheriff’s staff said she should do and that she would then probably be going home that evening.

    I smell a setup, this gets to stinking more & more.

  15. john454 says :

    Just the stuff we know FOR SURE is enough to get these sadists jail time.

    You don’t leave a victim without medical care.
    You don’t have males on females, let alone EIGHT people to strip a handcuffed woman.
    You don’t leave them naked, without at least a paper covering.
    You don’t take them to be booked naked.

    This has nothing to do with them thinking she was suicidal, it was almost CERTAINLY done to humiliate, embarrass, degrade and punish Hope Steffy.

    And then there is all the disputed stuff that we have.

    That she was attacked by the deputy without just cause.
    That he pulled on her arm to get her ‘to react’ and then made it seem as if she was resisting.
    Deputy and jailers claim that she was in mood swings, but NO VIDEO shows this.
    That the deputy left her in the car, while he talked to someone at the jail. (This alone raises a red flag for me!!)
    That she was told she could go home after questions.
    That she was NEVER asked to remove her cloths.
    That the officers attacked her without warning.
    That her tooth & back were injured in the multiple attacks by police.

    And then we have all the ‘missing’ video for icing on the cake…….

  16. Tiger says :

    For all you that think the cops can do waht ever they want! Remember your comments when their slamming your head into a wall or doing this to your wife or mother because your to fucking stupid to think this is wrong! The stark co sheriff denied that what was happening was a strip search so it can only be one thing sexual assault!

  17. Bob King says :

    Oops… seems I forgot to drop the link code.

    http://www.graphictruth.com/2008/04/sheriff-tim-swanson-likes-to-make-sure.html

    My speculation IS sarcastic, but I do wonder why they were videotaping something that they knew had to be both criminal and actionable. Private stroke video does seem one possible purpose.

  18. mac says :

    I am in afghanistan and i see this assault!We have soldiers in prison for far less at abu graihb.
    It is nothing less than torture and humiliation,Showing her that she is outnumbered , defencless,and anything they want to do to her is inevitable.If she was the AG’s wife,he wouldnt be idle and let it happen again.

  19. Citizen says :

    This is the email that I wrote to the sherrif

    Hello Sherrif,

    I am not going to start this mail with pleasantries because I believe that will be a waste of my time. I recently came to know about the case of Hope Steffey. I was aghast to know how your deputies behaved with that woman. What surprises me even more is that you are shielding them instead of punishing them. You are claiming that “they followed the book”. Could you be kind enough to tell me which book says that male deputies can strip search a woman? What your deputies did was much worse than just strip search. They violated her modesty and used excessive force against her. You also denied that your deputies stripped Ms Steffey. Would you also say that the gruesome video of Ms Steffey circling around the internet is a fraud?

    The behavior of your department has been extremely corrupt and repulsive. I can’t stop wondering while watching the video -”Is this America or Iraq?”. You and your department have brought shame not only to Stark county or Ohio but to the entire country. If you have any decency left, you should resign from your post after firing all the deputies involved and filing criminal cases against them, instead of posing with false pride on the website of the county sheriff website.

    -A concerned citizen.

  20. anthony says :

    im sorry to drop this bomb on americans, but women r subjected to stuff like this as a mater of routine in americas prisons. its one of americas best kept secrets. america is notorious to human rights organisations as having one of the most barbaric, inhumane, mysoginistic prison systems in the world. rape is a regular event every year in the pisons. women are regularly abused by being strip searched in front of men, or forced to take showers with men watching them. thier are so many cases i could mention iv lost count, so just look it up on the net. the thing that sadens me most is the fact that poeple seem to be oblivious to this. the reactions to the hope steffy abuse suggest that poeple think its an isolated incident, but stuff like this is just a matter of routine in the womens prisons, its that bad. thier is no better example of how many inhumane, mysoginistic scum men that are out thier than this issue. check out the valley state prisons high security unit and youl find out out just how much the word scum applies to the men that work thier and the authorities who run it. the shocking thing is these people will have wives and daughters. i wonder how much they know about what thier husband or father does to women on a daily basis, in the name of ‘security’. prison guards and cops are inherantly inhumane people, because they are completely indifferent to the sexual humiliation and abuse that women experience when they are subjected to forced nudity in the presence of men.

  21. Mel says :

    We want put this on our live show (Thursdays, 7pm). Does anyone have an update? We are still waiting to hear back from the other ‘sources’ melshae@hotmail.com

  22. D Stevens says :

    Obviously Stark County sanctions the use of legalized rape, sexual assault and torture under the color of authority on private citizens. I am sure the police are very proud of themselves.

  23. stef says :

    Anthony: You are correct in saying these things go on all the time and that America, notwithstanding its’ loud mouth propaganda about “democracy” (US is a republic) and freedom etc. is a country whose very beginnings were steeped in blood. For a country with a comparatively short historically existence, overflows with crimes against humanity. The US is a nation run by criminals protected by armed thugs (military, police, mercenaries and on and on). One of Faulkner’s protagonists described cops as “sadistic parasites” — exactly. For lots of evidence that the police is out of control (has been for decades) check out 24perday.com. Disgusting, but a real eye opener. Yours for 911 Truth.

  24. John332 says :

    UPDATE!!

    This is the BCI report that Agent Christy S. Palmer sent to John D. Ferrero, Prosecuting Attorney Stark County Ohio.
    Dated April 16, 2008 BCI Case #: SI-76-08-14-0147

    This is part of page 3

    http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y39…BCI-Report.jpg

    Sheriff Swanson has ALWAYS maintained that Steffey was ASKED & REFUSED to remove her cloths.
    But here’s the BCI’s OWN REPORT that PROVES this is a LIE!

    But apparently catching the sheriff’s dept in a lie isn’t a big deal to our “independent” BCI investigator, Christy Palmer, who seems ready to accept ANY excuse the sheriff’s dept wants to use.

    The report also goes on to say that they lowered Steffey in a slow controlled manner to the floor. Except that Steffey says she was thrown to the floor.
    She also told her husband in a phone call that she thought the cops had broken her nose.
    And she was treated by the nurse for the injury.
    And in page 4 of this report Christy Palmer even states that Steffey reported that her nose was making “crunching noises”.

    So I guess this is proof of a second LIE!

    And still Christy Palmer, the “independent investigator” doesn’t think twice about accepting the word of the cops over the VICTIMS in spite of proof.
    BTW, Christy also references a video that she says “proves that she was lowered in a slow controlled manner to the floor”. As far as I know, THIS would have to be on the ‘non-existent’ beginning of the strip video.
    On May 5th when I asked about the “missing” video, I was told it would soon be released.
    Now here again it looks as though it’s referenced…even though they NOW claim it does not exist.
    Interesting. (I have filed a request for this video.)

    This isn’t so much an investigation report as it is a smear campaign against Hope Steffey.

    They are trying to say that Steffey was resisting enough that EIGHT people couldn’t take the chance of ASKING her to remove her cloths, or EVEN TELL HER WHAT WAS GOING ON!!!
    What a crock!!

    I did NOT see any resisting in the video, I saw eight cops parading her to the cell, with her in cuffs.

    In fact EVERY video I have seen she is in cuffs!
    And the ONLY times I have seen her react to the cops is after they have assaulted her or in the process of stripping her naked.

    The cops can polish this turd as much as want, this STILL STINKS!

    BTW I don’t know why they bothered to black out the names of Nurse Coren Lennon and the jail psychologist Thomas Anuszkiewicz, aren’t they PROUD of the work they do?

  25. Samuel L. says :

    My fellow on Facebook shared this link with me and I’m not dissapointed that I came to your blog.

  26. John says :

    I was always puzzled by all the news sources saying that there was “confusion” when the cops arrived.

    I’m thinking what “confusion”? All the evidence I have contradicts that.
    They have everyone there saying that Steffey was the victim; even the cousin is saying it on video. Plus the brother of the attacker calls the cops on his own sister.
    Heck even in the court transcripts, the cop testifies under oath that he went to his car to document Steffey’s injuries. His testimony seems to point out that he knew who the victim was.
    And the cops are on tape talking about Steffey’s niece getting arrested the month before for another assault charge, and Gurlea testifies that he has everyone looking for Steffey’s missing hair.
    Plus Gurlea is on the arrest tape talking to Steffey as if he knows she is the victim, telling her that even though he is arresting her for disorderly & resisting, he will still investigate the assault she had reported.
    So WHY are the papers saying there was “confusion”!?!?
    It doesn’t make sense.

    Well first of all Gurlea testified at court that he did not finish the assault investigation as he had told Steffey he would on the arrest video. His excuse was that Steffey was in no shape to help with the investigation.
    Would that mean that every victim that is knocked unconscious or killed will never have a chance to have their case solved?
    Plus it leaves out the fact that Steffey went back to the station 4 days later to file complaints. So she was still in no shape to help with the investigation?
    This also seems on the surface to make no sense.

    But then I found out that the police did go as far as to take TWO written witness statements, and they were from Steffey’s alleged attacker & her brother… (Who she no doubt threatened into it, since she didn’t know at that time he was the one who called the cops)…and the woman that she thought had called the police did testify at court that she had threatened her.
    But why just two statements?
    Testimony at the trial said there were several people present. Why not get statements from everyone there that was a witness?
    Again, these police actions seem to make no sense.

    So we have the arresting cop, Richard T. Gurlea Jr., testifying at Steffey’s trial that the ‘investigation’ into the assault was never finished.

    REALLY?!!? Then how do they explain the assault charges against Steffey in the incident report they filled out?
    http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Zemo999/Incident-Report-Assault.jpg

    Yes, that’s right, no news source ever reported that Steffey was listed in the incident report as being arrested for the assault that she had reported!!

    NOW if you go back and look at their actions that “made no sense”, suddenly this last piece of the puzzle seems to put it all together.
    It would seem to indicate that the cops were slanting the evidence to try to frame Steffey for the assault that she had reported!

    They of course never tried to charge her with the crime, because even with slanting the investigation by taking only witness statements from her alleged attacker they probably knew they’d never get a conviction on that charge.

    Another thing no news source ever reported was that Steffey was NEVER given a chance to remove her own clothes, even though this was made very clear in the BCI’s own report. But news sources always reported that Swanson had said that she had been given a chance, even after they knew this was not true.

    Also never reported in any news sources is the fact that after they had stripped Steffey and videoed the cell being locked, it was IMMEDIATELY opened again, and some entered her cell without video taping evidence.

    There is also a lot of video posted on YouTube. All the videos seem to disprove the officer’s claims that she was physically abusive. But people can see for themselves.
    Here’s the first in a series. This video shows Steffey when she first arrives at the station:

    These aren’t the only lies I have caught the Stark County Sheriff’s Dept in, or omissions I have caught the news in, but for that I’d need to write a book instead of a rebuttal.

  27. John says :

    UPDATE:

    Ok here’s a video you won’t see on the news.

    Here’s the cops taking Steffey to the cell to strip her naked. This shows what was going on outside in the hallway.

    The quality of the video is pretty bad. It will seem to ‘skip’ frames for quite a while in some places, but then take a bunch in a row at other times. Why it does this, I don’t know.
    All the cameras at the sheriff’s dept seem to be in bad shape and “malfunction” right at critical moments.

    But as you can see after they video the cell being locked, they IMMEDIATLY open her cell again.
    (NO video of what was done then!)

    The rest all stand around and seem to have a good laugh.

    As you can see from the video the big guy in the white shirt, he stays at the door to the cell looking in all the time Steffey was being assaulted, and then he stays back around her cell afterwards, looking in….GEE, I wonder WHY?

    Then afterwards he’s joined by another officer who didn’t get a chance to help strip Steffey and he starts walking down to have a look too.

    You just have to wonder where their SWAT team is.

    WHY DON’T THEY JUST SELL TICKETS?!?!?!?

    BUT THEN the camera seems to malfunction, and the next thing you see is a empty hall. BUT only ONE second has passed on the time marks!
    WOW, …..MORE “missing” video from Stark County Sheriff’s Dept.

  28. John says :

    Contacted John Boccieri today about the money he just got for the sheriff’s office. Asked him to get new cameras instead and to see what he could do about the jail policies that they admit are still having men strip women & leave them naked.

    LETS ALL CALL!!

    Be sure to point out this Sheriff is named in a LOT of lawsuits (7 or 8) and this crap needs to be stopped NOW.

    Contact Me

    I am here to serve the residents of the 16th Congressional District, and so is my staff.

    We can be reached in Washington D.C.at (202) 225-3876, in Canton at (330) 489-4414 , or Toll Free at (800) 826-9015.

    Boccieri District Office

    300 W Tuscarawas St.
    Suite 716
    Canton, OH 44702
    (330) 489-4414
    (800)826-9015

    Boccieri DC Office:

    1516 Longworth HOB
    Washington, DC 20515
    (202) 225-3876

    http://boccieri.house.gov/index.php?…=article&id=78

  29. John says :

    Deputies drop suit vs. WKYC over Hope Steffey report

    Just as I have said all along this would NEVER get to a trial. There is just no way for the cops to justify what was done to Steffey.

    http://www.cantonrep.com/news/crime/x1631834888/Lawsuit-against-WKYC-dropped

  30. john454 says :

    UPDATE:
    Got the FBI stuff yesterday 2-23-2010. I just got a chance to read it all today. (What there was of it.)

    This is worse than I thought, it was a “joint investigation” by the FBI & the BCI.

    So basically I got the same BS cop reports, that I got from the state, only these had even more stuff blocked out than the stuff I got from the state!
    And comparing what the FBI blocked to what was in the SAME state reports, it looks as though the FBI was trying to get rid of ANYTHING that would make the cops look bad.

    So basically the sheriff supplied ALL the evidence to the BCI.
    Then the BCI took all the police reports, rubber stamped them as fact, even though the evidence didn’t support them.

    And then the FBI copied everything the BCI got from the sheriff, overlooked all the conflicting reports, testimony, & videos (& lies from the sheriff), and rubber stamped their reports as fact also.
    Also since they copied the BCI “investigation” verbatim (plagiarized) they have stuff WRONG in their copies of it.
    The FBI says that the BCI is investigating if Steffey’s civil rights were violated, but the BCI report states the EXACT OPPOSITE, and in fact it is the FBI that is supposed to be investigating her civil rights violations!!!

    NO WHERE in ALL of this “evidence” was there ANY effort to look at anything OTHER THAN THE POLICE REPORTS.
    No other witness interviews other than cops, no rebuttal from Steffey herself or her witnesses….NOTHING!

    I plan on contacting the FBI more about information, but since there was no effort to actually investigate this case, I know already that the information I am going to ask for isn’t going to be there.

    I will also go over ALL the discrepancies from what was claimed to what the evidence shows.

    But AGAIN there is no effort from “investigators” to find out the truth of what was really going on that night. (They don’t even bother to explain any of the discrepancies in the evidence they DID gather!)

    This is really unbelievable….Grrrrr

  31. internet facts says :

    “Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it . . . ; Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine.”— David Ogilvy

  32. rashmun says :

    Thanks that helps alot, I knew someone understood.

  33. John says :

    Been a while since the last post, there is even more…it’s just too bad all of the cops lies never came out right away.
    Instead I had to fight for information through years of FOIA requests. And then I was only able to get the information that the Sheriff had supplied the state & FBI.
    Never got any of the other side of the story except what was in testimony at Steffey’s kangaroo trial.
    But even with just getting the States evidence it should have been enough to put these criminals behind bars.

  34. Tucson Dui Lawyer says :

    A motivating discussion is definitely worth comment. I do think that you should publish more about this subject matter, it may not be a taboo subject but usually people don’t discuss such issues. To the next! Many thanks!!

  35. John says :

    I have always said I would have to write a book to get it all down. Or have a website with all the proof there….the hardest part is trying to go through all the evidence, and the you run into another piece that shows the cops LIED again!
    And you have to wonder WHY investigator’s covered this up and still refused to bring criminal charges against everyone involved.

    Like I said the cops tried to frame Steffey, which is probably why they tried to say there was confusion….the only problem is that there is NO EVIDENCE that there was confusion, and in fact all the evidence showed exactly the opposite!

  36. attorney general virginia says :

    The very next time I read a blog, I hope that it won’t fail me just as much as this particular one. After all, I know it was my choice to read through, but I genuinely thought you would probably have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of moaning about something you can fix if you weren’t too busy searching for attention.

  37. John says :

    @attorney general virginia

    So what would you do to “fix” this? During my time looking into this I contacted MANY people involved with this, most of them lied, including newspapers that printed stuff that they KNEW to be lies.
    I left my name & number many times for Swanson, but never had him call back on this story. I called the investigators from the state Paul Scarsella, Section Chief, Agent Christy S. Palmer, & Bridget Carty, Paul Keptler & John Dysart of the FBI, the head jailer Mike McDonald, who has now died from cancer. I contacted the Ohio state Atty’s office Marc Dann, the inspector general’s office, Jim Gravelle the Ohio Press Secretary, Stark County Prosecutor John D. Ferrero, Jonathan Stump of the Correctional Healthcare Group, and Vivianne Whalen Duffrin Director of Human Resources at the sheriff’s dept.

    And a few others, and I couldn’t get ANYTHING done! Believe me I tried!!

    There’s just TOO many conflicting versions, TOO much evidence “missing”, a MONTHS long “investigation” that leaves too many questions, and too many illogical explanations for everything that was done.

    Even after you confront them with the lies it does no good.
    I called John D. Ferrero, Prosecuting Attorney For Stark County. I asked for a copy of the state report from the BCI that had investigated the Hope Steffey case.
    They said I would have to get a hold of the state, that they NEVER received any report.
    I said “YOU ask for an “investigation” from the state, but they never sent you anything??”
    They replied “That’s right, you would need to get a hold of them to get it.”
    I said “I already have a copy of the report THEY SENT YOU, and you are in it listed as receiving a CC copy!”
    Gezz caught them in ANOTHER LIE! (Fishing was good that day) LoL

    You can catch them in lies day after day…but no one in power will do anything about it. So what do you suggest?

  38. Lisa M. says :

    Citizens who believe in this nation need to band together, picket, protest, and gather signatures to DEMAND that dirty cops are not only taken permanently off the force, but end up behind bars. In this case, it’s clear a single cop who refused to return Steffey’s deceased sister’s driver’s license decided to get rough with her because she repeated begged him for it’s return. First, he assaulted her. Everything that followed was a continuation of that assault. These things are happening in this nation because not enough of us are DEMANDING appropriate justice. The result is these cops know they can get away with it. The FBI who didn’t do their job should also be off the job. The more we stand aside and don’t force justice, the more injustice will prevail. Those cops all banded together in evil. We must band together as a much greater counter-force. So when you hear of such a case, start an online signature-gathering campaign and in it, ask people to call their representatives and get out and protest. THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE WITHOUT EXCEPTION or we can kiss our nation goodby.

  39. Lisa M. says :

    If it’s still possible to prosecute those involved in this case then let’s do it. At minimum, we can ask to have them all relieved of duty and never able to return. I want to start a petition on Change.org. If those who know a lot about the case have suggestions as to what details should be in the petition, please post them here. Thank you!

  40. John says :

    Lisa, after this went on National News, this same Sheriff was elected again!!! I don’t know if the real story never made it out in time or what, but since then I have been trying to post what really happened & at least get the information out there. But it’s hard to do since even the newspapers lied about the story, the ‘award winning’ “What Happened To Hope Steffey” story is written trying to look like it’s a neutral account. But once you get the evidence, which took me years to pry out of them, and I still don’t have it all, you find out just how twisted this account is.
    Then we have the lies from the officials…

    >Lies of Stark County<

    Sheriff maintains that Steffey is drunk.

    But witnesses say she is not that drunk & the BCI investigation finds that the NEXT SHIFT at the jail also says that they can detect NO effects or even SMELL of alcohol. (This is 1 1/2 hr after they assault her)
    http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Zemo999/TZorgerTestimony.jpg

    =
    Sheriff & deputies maintain that Steffey was abusive.

    But jailhouse video (all on YouTube) shows Steffey always in cuffs with at least two people, and never shows her even react to the police unless they are attacking her.
    =
    Arresting Officer Richard T. Gurlea Jr testifies under oath that investigation was never finished. (So no case where victim is unconscious or killed is ever solved?)

    Incident report proves that his claim that it was never finished is a lie. Crime VICTIM is framed for the assault she reported
    http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Zemo999/IncidentReportHiLighted.jpg

    In Red you will see they also arrested Steffey for the assault.

    =
    Sheriff Swanson was reported to have said Steffey refused to remove her clothes.

    The State investigation report by the BCI clearly shows this to be a lie. (As did the video)
    http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Zemo999/Hope-5_zps06034cb5.jpg

    =
    Also maintains that she was told that her clothes were to be removed.

    But BCI report can find no one that said that, and as apparent by the strip video, this also is a lie.
    =
    Sheriff Swanson says there were not enough women there.

    Video CLEARLY shows that this is a lie.
    =
    Swanson claims that jail psychologist Thomas Anuszkiewicz put Steffey on suicide watch.

    But no evidence backs up this claim, and the evidence that is there shows ONLY Caren Lennon put Steffey on suicide watch. So we have Swanson caught in another lie.
    (UPDATE contacted Sheriff’s dept, they have NO evidence a doc ordered this)
    http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Zemo999/Incident-Report.jpg

    =
    Agent Christy S. Palmer states in her report QUOTE “Again, as recorded by jail video and/or audio, the jail staff instead chose to bring the prisoner in a slow, controlled decent to the floor.”

    Paul Scarsella of Special Prosecutions Ohio Attorney General now says this video dosen’t exist, even though I was also told by the sheriff’s dept that this video would be released.
    =
    States that Steffey is TOO suicidal for a suit DESIGNED for the purpose or even a paper covering.

    NO ONE has been able to answer HOW that is possible. Looks like yet MORE lies.
    Especially since the investigation found that Steffey DENIED being suicidal THREE TIMES!

    =
    County Prosecutor’s Office claims that they asked the state for this investigation, but never received ANY report about it, after I asked for a copy. They said I would have to contact the state for info.

    I informed them that I had already contacted the state, and had already gotten a copy of the report that the state sent them, with them listed as a carbon copy. (Caught in yet another lie.)

    BTW The BCI report also reports that the sheriff ENCOURAGES his men to view these tapes for "training".
    I called and asked if Steffey's video had been used, they stated the didn't know, but when I asked for a copy of the signout sheet they refused to send a copy, THEN they said they didn't have one. AGAIN "missing" evidence!

    http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/Zemo999/Tapes.jpg

    This porno ring is the only reason I can think of why so MANY people covered this up, I can only assume there's a lot of people that get these "training tapes"!!!

  41. Lisa M. says :

    Thank you for the additional information. I read the reports and the article “What Happened To Hope Steffey.” The part that sticks with me the most is that the purpose of the policy to bar the opposite sex from participating in a strip search is to help protect the suspect’s modesty. It goes without saying that any other time a suspect is stripped, the intent of the law stands. Just because the strip didn’t have the word “search” after it, it’s ludicrous to believe that it was then okay for opposite sex personnel to be present. Additionally, Steffey was not laid on the cot to face the wall while her clothes were removed, which is the most logical method since the suspect would not then be kneeling on her clothes; instead, she was bent forward over a cot for seemingly no other reason than to further humiliate her by placing her in a position that could expose her genitalia and simulate a position that we all know mimics how a person would be placed if the assaulter’s intent was to rape her.

    For at least the last hundred years (probably longer), US citizens have complained about mistreatment by police. The fact that such mistreatment continues means our laws and perhaps our Bill of Rights are inadequate. Too often, we hear that personnel who perform these heinous acts are slapped on the wrist and then continue in their position as “peace officers.” We as citizens need to demand a federal law that calls for videotaping of all police activity both on a scene and in the jail. We need a law that ensures corrections personnel who are involved in such incidents are removed from duty. We need a law that immediately dismisses any fellow corrections officer if it’s discovered that they lied or withheld evidence concerning the behavior of another officer. We need to demand that corrections personnel who are relieved of duty are further banned from public service – either paid or as volunteers.

    When I have a draft of the petition, I’ll place it here for feedback.

  42. Lisa M. says :

    And finally, let’s not forget that Hope Steffey won her case. How can she have won a civil case unless it was determined that her rights had been violated? If her rights had been violated, it means that people involved should have been relieved of duty.

  43. John says :

    Lisa your right we do need a law, because the Supreme Court in the Albert Florence case left citizens at the mercy of the police state. And the big problem with their ruling was that this case was a prime example of abuse! A guy arrested for a traffic violation is held for SEVEN DAYS?!?! And then switched to a different jail!??! And this is after he had a letter stating that he had already paid the fine…we have instant communication in this day & age, but they held him for a WEEK!! And strip searched him twice! From one jail to the next?

    Outrageous, and STILL the court said that the police should be trusted!

    And lately it seems to be even worse, with people getting stripped in public for a traffic stop!

    Anyway Steffey not only won her lawsuit, but she should have won her first trial, and if the jury would have heard all the evidence, she probably would have.
    And she wasn’t the only one to win a lawsuit for abuses in Stark County, a home schooling Mother who was held for three days naked, except for a paper covering also won, along with 3 teenage girls who were forced into a strip search on a “tour”.

    Stark county just got a new sheriff, hopefully these abuses will be stopped.

  44. Lisa M. says :

    A new sheriff is a good start, assuming he is highly offended by what has been occurring in the name of the law. But we need better-defined rights for all citizens – one that will apply in all such circumstances.

  45. John says :

    Most of these abuses are from the “War on Drugs”, to stop them we would need to stop the decades of broken thinking.

    It took 13 years of prohibition, to find out it was never going to work. They didn’t repeal prohibition because booze was determined to now be healthy for people. They repealed it to get rid of all the crime & corruption associated with it.

    And all the cost in policing, prosecuting, and imprisoning people.

    (BTW people that point out how drugs destroy lives, but so does years in jail at taxpayer expense!)

    And so alcohol is again legal.

    See? The morality of the situation NEVER changed, ONLY THE LAWS!

    The “War on Drugs” has been going on for decades. We need to legalize them all again and REGULATE them!
    We need to get the freaks off the worst of them, so they aren’t out killing innocent people.
    And stop states from going broke trying to jail them all.

    And of course stop the abuses, no knock warrants with people getting killed…like they say pot won’t kill you, but the DEA might!

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