An Ohio State Trooper has been sentenced to five years in federal prison after posting to Craigslist advertising “traffic stop sex” just days before he groped a drunk handcuffed woman while responding to an accident.
But the sexual assaults he committed did not end there.
In November of 2010, Trooper Bryan Lee, 31, responded to the scene of a drunk driving accident. After the woman was handcuffed for failing a field sobriety test, the officer fondled her breasts and rubbed his penis against her before driving her home to her mother’s house.
The following February, the woman filed an official complaint, but was deemed a liar and threatened with charges of filing a false police report.
> “It was very clear after interviewing Ms. S that her story has changed several times. It was clear she lied to her attorney when she originally made the allegations to him. His reaction to the way she answered my questions clearly took him by surprise,” Sergeant D. Bryan Kirk wrote of her complaint.
His fellow cops refusing to believe the woman, Lee went undisciplined and was allowed to remain on the force.
It was not until nearly three years later, in October of 2013, during a routine review of dashcam footage that the department would realize that they may have made a mistake, and an investigation was opened which the FBI quickly joined.
The footage caught Lee flirting with a driver and her female friend that he had pulled over on a suspected DUI. He is heard telling them how he can flirt more once he runs the woman’s license and turns his camera off.
When it was determined that the driver was not intoxicated and her license had been ran, he allowed her to leave, but kept her passenger with him and brought her in his patrol car to an area near her home.
The trooper then began making comments to her about her breasts and legs, and informed her that he could still give her friend a ticket. The woman asked what he wanted from her, and he told her that the ticket could be avoided if she allowed him to take a photo of his hand on her breast.
The officer then began sending the woman Facebook messages about her locations and what she was wearing. The investigation would later turn up many explicit photographs that the officer would send women, including his victims, where he was in full uniform with his badge visible.
With another woman, he forced her to perform sexual acts on him, which she complied with out of fear.
> “He told me to do this, he told me to do that and I basically complied. What else am I going to do in that situation, he’s a cop. He has more authority,” the woman told investigators.
During the investigation into the assaults, postings to Craigslist were uncovered where the trooper sought to act out his fantasy of using his authority to force women into performing sex acts.
> “I am in Law Enforcement so if the idea of traffic stop sex sounds good let me know. i work today till 10 so that way you’ll be back home in time. I am a real person and am looking to meet up.” the first post the officer wrote using the alias Troy Castle stated.
> “How about a cop you must (expletives) to get out of being arrested. if that sounds fun i can fulfill that fantasy.” Lee wrote in another ad.
Prior to the release of the documents this week, it was believed that Lee had four victims. The records show that many of the women did not want to speak out as they were afraid that they would not be believed or would face retaliation.
> “Ms. Z stated Trooper Lee would leave her crazy voice mails and told her if she ever told anyone he could get her in trouble. Trooper Lee would tell her he had everything in his trunk to get her in trouble and he would plant the stuff on her,” one of the victims explained during an interview in November 2013.
In April, Lee was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison on four misdemeanors counts of civil rights violations and one felony count of cyberstalking. The newly released documents show that there were more victims and more crimes than the ones he was charged with.
Lee was allowed to resign from the force prior to being terminated and prosecuted.
