COLUMBUS, Ohio—Five of the police officers from the scandal-plagued Columbus, Ohio, police department vice squad—a unit that has since been disbanded—now face disciplinary action over their controversial arrest of AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels, when she was giving a live performance at a strip club there. Charges of making physical contact with an undercover vice cop during her performance were dropped within less than 24 hours of Daniels’ arrest on July 11, 2018, as AVN.com reported.
Daniels, who was then represented by her now-former attorney Michael Avenatti, filed a lawsuit against the city, as AVN.com reported, claiming that the arrest was politically motivated, due to Daniels’ high-profile “hush money” lawsuit against Donald Trump.
Though Daniels and Avenatti have since split, her lawsuit remains active—and the current departmental charges against the five officers, including a 29-year veteran of the Columbus police, appear to stem from that lawsuit. In a court filing this week, the city admitted that the vice cops who busted Daniels had been warned in advance that their strip-club “sting” operation was “problematic,” according to a report by WBNS TV News.
The Columbus Police have denied that the arrest of Daniels was motivated by politics. But the department did not announce the nature of the internal charges against the five officers on Wednesday.
“I made this decision because these officers violated our rules of conduct,” said the city’s interim police chief, Tom Quinlan, as quoted by WBNS. “The range of discipline for these officers could include reprimand, suspension, and or termination.”
Leaked emails, reported by AVN.com last year, appeared to show that the officers had deliberately targeted Daniels in advance. One officer who was not charged by the department, Shana Keckley, also sent emails after the arrest appearing to gloat over the bust.
The officers now facing departmental charges are Commander Terry Moore, a 29-year Columbus Police veteran; Lieutenant Ron Kemmerling, who had 23 years' experience; Sergeant Scott Soha, a 17-year veteran; as well as 18-year officer Steve Rosser, and 31-year veteran Whitney Lancaster. Rosser and Lancaster participated in the "sting" arrest of Daniels, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Rosser, who had been named in a previous entrapment case, was also apparently a Trump fan, posting multiple pro-Trump memes to his social media accounts, as AVN.com reported.
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