Former Columbus vice officer sentenced to prison for depriving a victim’s civil rights through fraudulent arrest

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A former Columbus vice officer was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 18 months in prison for conspiring to violate an individual’s constitutional rights. 

Steven G. Rosser, 46, of Delaware, was convicted following a jury trial in February 2022.

Rosser was employed with the Columbus Division of Police for 19 years and assigned as a detective in CPD’s vice unit from April 2013 until October 2018.

According to court documents and trial testimony, in 2018, Rosser and others conspired to deprive one of the owners of the Dollhouse, a gentlemen’s club on Karl Court, of his civil rights by seizing and searching him and his vehicle without probable cause in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

At trial, the government presented evidence that Rosser was part of a scheme to frame the victim for cocaine possession. The actual amount of cocaine planted on the scene as part of the scheme was a miniscule amount, approximately .017 gram.

After orchestrating the fraudulent arrest, Rosser falsified documentation to conceal the conspiracy activity.

Rosser was indicted by a federal grand jury and arrested in March 2020.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; J. William Rivers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant; Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost; Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) Superintendent Joseph Morbitzer; and Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison.

Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin W. Kelley and Noah R. Litton are representing the United States in this case. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Southern Ohio Public Corruption Task Force, which includes special agents and officers from the FBI, Ohio Attorney General’s BCI, the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office and the Columbus Division of Police.

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