Ex-Chester Township Police Officers Pleads Not Guilty to Sexual Battery
Former Chester Township police officer and West Geauga School Resource Officer Nicholas Iacampo pleaded not guilty Dec. 19 to charges of felony sexual battery and unruliness or delinquency of a child, a misdemeanor, for an alleged Aug. 6 incident with a 16-year-old girl.
Former Chester Township police officer and West Geauga School Resource Officer Nicholas Iacampo pleaded not guilty Dec. 19 to charges of felony sexual battery and unruliness or delinquency of a child, a misdemeanor, for an alleged Aug. 6 incident with a 16-year-old girl.
Iacampo, 29, who lives in Painesville with his wife, appeared for his arraignment via video before retired Portage County Common Pleas Court Judge John A. Enlow, who the Ohio Supreme Court assigned to preside over the Geauga County case. Also present were Lake County Assistant Prosecutor Adam Downing and defense counsel Ian Friedman and Madelyn Grant, of the Cleveland-based law firm Friedman, Nemecek & Long LLC.
Enlow set a $20,000 personal recognizance bond for Iacampo and ordered him not to have any contact “whatsoever with minor DM, or family, directly or indirectly.”
A pretrial hearing was set for Feb. 21, 2024.
Iacampo was indicted a second time last month, after facing similar charges in August for the same alleged incident. Those charges were later dropped, however, because the Ohio Supreme Court found in 2016 the state law making it a felony for a peace officer to have sex with a minor more than two years younger than the officer was unconstitutional.
This time, Iacampo was charged under a statute that prohibits a teacher, administrator, coach or other person in authority employed by or serving in a school from engaging in sexual conduct with a person who is enrolled in or attends that school.
He also was is accused of aiding, abetting, inducing, causing, encouraging or contributing to a minor becoming an unruly or delinquent child by engaging in sexual conduct.
“This case presents many stones to turn,” Friedman said. “In the courtroom, one should expect to see challenges to the legal issues, factual claims and basic constitutionality of the single charge. Just as I expect the state will be prepared, so, too, will our team on behalf of Mr. Iacampo.”
Iacampo originally was arrested the evening of Aug. 6, after the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office received a 9-1-1 call from the father of a 16-year-old girl regarding allegations against a Chester Township police officer.
He was arraigned Aug. 7 in Chardon Municipal Court on a third-degree felony charge of sexual battery against the 16-year-old.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office was brought in as a third-party investigative unit because Iacampo is the son of Chardon Municipal Court Judge Terri Stupica. At the same time, the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office was appointed as special counsel in the case.
The investigation found Iacampo engaged in sexual conduct with a minor who at the time of the incident was 16 years of age. The conduct allegedly took place in the parking lot of the Church of the Blessed Hope on Wilson Mills Road in Chester Township, according to law enforcement sources.
Iacampo officially resigned from the Chester Police Department on Aug. 28.
In a prepared statement issued last month after Iacampo’s second indictment, Chester Township Police Chief Craig T. Young wrote, “The members of this organization are devoted stewards of public safety and are willing to pay the ultimate price, if need be, to ensure this community’s safety.
“No one is above the law and our personnel are held to strict standards of conduct to ensure faithful service and protection; our community deserves nothing less. The recent investigation involving the reported misconduct of a former officer in no way reflects any type of accepted behavior by this office; the members of this organization find this reported behavior appalling. Please understand that a resignation was accepted on the advice of our legal counsel, as terminations are often appealed and could result in a reinstatement regardless of the circumstances leading to the termination. Resignations are final.”
Photo Courtesy WKYC
Former Chester Township police officer and West Geauga SRO Nicholas Iacampo pleaded not guilty at his Dec. 21 video arraignment to charges of sexual battery and unruliness or delinquency of a child for an alleged Aug. 6 incident with a 16-year-old girl.
