...His wife ultimately refused to testify, and prosecutors and Gerek’s attorney worked out a plea deal in which the rape and domestic violence charges were dropped and Gerek pleaded guilty to assault... Bowling Green City Prosecutor Matt Reger filed a motion Thursday asking Bowling Green Municipal Court Judge Mark Reddin to order Gerek back into court to explain why he didn’t mention his other criminal convictions...PREVIOUS POST:
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
[OH] For the Record: Lorain Officer Gerek got PROBATION?
...Lorain County Grand Jury returned a secret indictment charging him with rape and a misdemeanor domestic violence count... Gerek threatened to kill their children if his wife left him or called police, according to a police report... Gerek's wife told police that she did not want to file charges against her husband because she was afraid of him... A plea agreement with prosecutors calls for Timothy Gerek Jr. to resign from the force immediately and never work as an officer again. In exchange, the rape charge was dropped and a charge of domestic violence was reduced to misdemeanor assault... Two months after the plea, Gerek changed his mind because
he wanted to REMAIN in law enforcement...
Real lives.
Real fear.
Real dangers.
Real games with our justice system.
And Brad Dicken is a Real journalist, using his pen to put it to the people.
What will the people do?
FORMER LORAIN COP TRYING TO CLEAR HIS RECORD
The Chronicle-Telegram
Brad Dicken
January 22nd, 2009
[Excerpts] Former Lorain police Officer Timothy Gerek Jr. has spent the past year cleaning up his criminal record. Gerek resigned from the force in 2002 after he pleaded rape and domestic violence charges down to misdemeanor assault. It’s a conviction he wants Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Edward Zaleski to expunge from his record at a hearing set for Monday. Normally, the criminal record that Gerek racked up before he became a police officer in 1992 would prevent him from getting the 2002 conviction sealed, but he’s taken steps to either reduce his prior charges or have them thrown out. It’s a tactic that has prosecutors fuming... Gerek’s criminal history dates to March 20, 1987, when he was charged with making false alarms by campus security at Bowling Green State University... In October 1988, Gerek was charged by Bowling Green police with disorderly conduct... Toledo attorney Mark Guedtner convinced Bowling Green Municipal Court Judge Mark Reddin to throw out the making false alarms charge last January... [Bowling Green City Prosecutor Matt] Reger said nothing was mentioned about the 2002 conviction in Lorain County or Gerek’s Aug. 18, 1990, arrest for DUI. “The court would never have granted it if we’d known about that, and we would have been jumping up and down saying ‘no’... After learning of Gerek’s criminal history from The Chronicle-Telegram, Reger said he plans to ask the judge to reinstate the making false alarms charge. The DUI and the assault Gerek followed up his success in Bowling Green by asking Lorain Municipal Court Judge Mark Mihok to allow him to withdraw his plea in the 1990 DUI case. According to the crash report, Gerek hit another car with his 1985 Nissan 300ZX... In September [Judge Mihok] allowed Gerek to withdraw his no contest plea to the DUI and instead enter a no contest to reckless operation, a lesser charge... In October, [Gerek's attorney, Jack] Bradley and his former associate, Laura Perkovic, filed a motion asking Zaleski to seal Gerek’s record in a 2002 case in which the then-police officer was accused of forcing himself on his wife at the time. According to court records, on Dec. 8, 2001, Gerek pulled off his wife’s pants and underwear, leaving her with bruises on her legs and other injuries. She stabbed Gerek in the leg with a pair of scissors as she fought him off, according to the records. His wife ultimately refused to testify, and prosecutors and Gerek’s attorney, now county Common Pleas Judge James Burge, worked out a plea deal in which the rape and domestic violence charges were dropped and Gerek pleaded guilty to assault. Part of the plea deal was that Gerek resign from the Lorain Police Department and never again work in law enforcement. Gerek, who later unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his plea, avoided jail in the case and spent less than a year on probation... Burge said it’s not uncommon for defendants to try to clear up multiple old convictions, and that sometimes means revisiting more than one old case. For someone like Gerek, he said, there’s nothing wrong with that. “I think he deserves a break,” he said... [Full article here]
UPDATE:
EX-COP TRYING TO CLEAR HIS NAME MAY HEAD BACK TO COURT
The Chronicle-Telegram
Brad Dicken
January 23rd, 2009
[Excerpts] Former Lorain police Officer Timothy Gerek Jr. may soon find himself back in a Bowling Green courtroom. Bowling Green City Prosecutor Matt Reger filed a motion Thursday asking Bowling Green Municipal Court Judge Mark Reddin to order Gerek back into court to explain why he didn’t mention his other criminal convictions when he asked the judge to throw out a 1987 making false alarms conviction. When Reddin granted the request last January, Reger said he had no idea that Gerek had a criminal record that included a 1990 DUI conviction in Lorain Municipal Court that has since been pleaded down to a reckless operation charge. He also didn’t know about a 2002 assault conviction that Gerek wants Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Edward Zaleski to seal at a hearing next week. “If the state had known this information, it would have objected to the defendant’s request,” Reger wrote... Prosecutors contend that the case shouldn’t be sealed because the ban on future work in law enforcement should remain public record, and that Gerek, 42, wouldn’t have even been eligible to have the case expunged if he hadn’t cleaned up his convictions in Bowling Green and Lorain... [Full article here]
[ELYRIA, oh politics, ohio, officer involved domestic violence, teflon]
Judge considers ex-cop’s request to expunge
ReplyDeleteThe Chronicle-Telegram, OH
Jan 26, 2009
ELYRIA — Former Lorain police Officer Timothy Gerek Jr. will have to wait to find out whether a county judge will grant his request to seal his 2002 assault conviction.
At a hearing Monday, Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Edward Zaleski said he would have to consider Gerek’s request and wanted to see what would happen with the efforts of Bowling Green prosecutors to re-instate a 1987 false-alarm conviction that Gerek, 42, had thrown out last year.
Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Peter Gauthier urged Zaleski to reject Gerek’s request to seal the 2002 case. Gerek pleaded down from rape and domestic violence charges in the case after the victim, his wife, refused to testify against him.
Part of the plea deal was that Gerek resign from the police force and never against seek a job in law enforcement, stipulations that Gauthier said should remain public.
Jack Bradley, Gerek’s attorney, told Zaleski that his client needed to have the case expunged so he could travel to and from Canada in his capacity as an airline pilot.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, both U.S. and Canadian authorities have tightened restrictions on who can cross the border, and Gerek’s criminal past has made it difficult for him to do that, Bradley said.
“He flies into an airport in Canada, but he can’t stay because he can’t clear customs,” Bradley said.
Although Gerek, who also is a nonpracticing attorney living in Texas, obtained a waiver that has allowed him to enter Canada despite his convictions, that was only granted to give him time to clean up his record, Bradley said.
Bowling Green City Prosecutor Matt Reger has said that Gerek wasn’t honest when he asked Bowling Green Municipal Court Judge Mark Reddin to dismiss the 1987 conviction, something Reddin did last January. Gerek never told anyone that he had other convictions, instead painting the 1987 charge as a youthful indiscretion, Reger said.
Since learning of Gerek’s full criminal history, Reger has asked Reddin to reinstate the charge.
Reger said he also wasn’t aware that Gerek also had asked Lorain Municipal Court Judge Mark Mihok to allow him to withdraw his plea in a 1990 DUI conviction. In September, Mihok granted the request, and Gerek pleaded to a reduced charge of reckless operation.
Gauthier said Monday that Gerek’s efforts to clean up his record make a “mockery” of the expungement law.
“Expungement is for first-time offenders, he’s a three-time offender,” Gauthier said.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.