Interesting how things can disappear, like police reports and arrest records. Especially if the criminal has the right connections.
I don't want to name any names in this space, but a certain person who was in the news in Toledo last weekend for an alleged sexual crime had been arrested nine years ago for a sexual crime in a small town in northwest Ohio.
That much is certain.
But there is no official record of the arrest. No court documents. No one in law-enforcement can remember making the arrest.
The offender was sentenced at the time to community service, after which his record was "expunged." Poof! All gone.
This brings to mind the case of Father Robert Thomas, who was arrested for a sex act in the men's room of a Toledo mall in 1984.
All copies of the report mysteriously disappeared. None is on file with the police, and there is no sign of the arrest in court archives.
Toledo Police Officer Bill Gray, however, made a copy of that police report. He knew the other copies would vanish.
Officer Gray's documentation led to a newspaper article in 2002. Father Thomas, in the meantime, had moved to Arizona where he had been a priest for nearly 20 years. The week the story of his 1984 arrest was published in 2002, his Arizona bishop removed him from ministry.
Sometimes justice has to leap a few hurdles and endure some delays.
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On a whole different topic, I saw a rare sight today: a Jeep with muddy tires.
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Happy tax day everyone. Hope you get yours in on time and get a fat refund. Or maybe even a phat refund?
Happy birthday to brother in law Ed. His birthday's easy to remember.

Toledo, Ohio
April 15, 2008