When the Messenger has Caught You in a Crime Try to Discredit the Messenger

Earlier this week Jeff Grey made several statements about Jeff Rasawehr and the child sexual abuse case in Fort Recovery (listen to the audio here). Sheriff Jeff Grey has been caught violating Ohio law. His response has been to try to discredit the person who brought this to the attention of the public, Jeff Rasawehr. It’s no secret there is no love lost between these two. Jeff Grey can’t stand Jeff Rasawehr for standing up and calling him out on what he sees as his shortcomings as Sheriff. The Sheriff responded by filing bogus claims against Jeff. The claims are so bogus that UCLA First Amendment Attorney and Washington Post contributor, Eugene Volokh, has even come to Jeff Rasawehr’s defense free of charge. For a small county like Mercer to do something to get the attention of a person of Mr. Volokh legal stature should tell you something about how bogus their claims are.

Here are the facts about the child sexual abuse case in Fort Recovery that Sheriff Jeff Grey want you to overlook. Under Ohio law 2151 a credible interest, which Father Dorn is, requires that information about a case, like the one if Fort Recovery, be passed on to the proper jurisdiction. Sheriff Jeff Grey was informed by Father Dorn and Jeff Grey did not pass along the information, as required, to Findlay. It’s that simple. Jeff Grey can try to spin it any way he wants. He can try to make the messenger, Jeff Rasawehr, look bad. But those things don’t change the facts. Jeff Grey didn’t follow Ohio law and, based on what we’ve been told, other children paid the price as the sexual abuse continued.

We know this case is painful. We do not want to release the names of the two parents that came to Father Dorn and then to Sheriff Jeff Grey about the child sexual abuse case for their own safety. But under Ohio law, even the meeting required documentation that it had occurred and, sadly, there are no documents Mercer County can produce.

Sheriff Jeff Grey wants to make this all about Jeff Rasawehr. Deflection is a typical tactic when someone gets too close to the truth. But the truth is that no matter what Jeff Grey says about Jeff Rasawehr it doesn’t change the facts. Sheriff Jeff Grey didn’t follow Ohio law and children were put at risk. Ask yourself, is Jeff Grey above the law or does the law apply equally to him as it does everyone else? I think we all know the answer to that question – other than maybe Jeff Grey.