Civil Rights & Constitutional Law
Federal suit: Port Clinton Fire Chief Kent Johnson sexually assaulted and harassed firefighter/EMT
September 29, 2023
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Kent Johnson, convicted of assault, menacing, and theft of intimage images among other crimes against former Port Clinton firefighter Rebekah Huskey-Archacki. His son Trevor, an Ottawa County law-enforcement investigator and former Port Clinton firefighter, is now accused of falsifying public documents as part of a retaliation scheme against Ms. Huskey-Archacki.
Port Clinton, OH – The criminal case for falsifying public records initiated by a sexual-assault survivor against Ottawa County major-crimes investigator Trevor Johnson has escalated on multiple legal fronts. After former Port Clinton firefighter Rebekah Huskey-Archacki filed private-citizen-initiated-criminal charges, an Ohio visiting judge officially referred the matter to an outside special prosecutor. Meanwhile, Ottawa County Prosecuting Attorney James VanEerten suspended Johnson and issued mandatory constitutionally required dishonesty (Brady) disclosure notices for all active cases involving Johnson.
Court refers case to outside special prosecutor
Visiting Judge James D. Bates issued an order addressing the criminal affidavit filed against Johnson under R.C. 2935.09(D). Because Johnson is an active Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office employee, Judge Bates ruled that local officials should be insulated from the criminal matter and referred the case for investigation to a special prosecutor—Henry County Prosecutor Gwen Howe-Gebers or her designee.
Prosecutor Howe-Gebers handled the related prosecution of Trevor Johnson’s father, Kent Johnson.
Because Judge Bates handles numerous pending criminal matters in Ottawa County, he formally recused himself from any further activity in the case to avoid conflicts of interest.
Prosecutor benches investigator, flags misconduct to staff
In a June 27, 2026 response to a letter from The Chandra Law Firm, Ottawa County Prosecuting Attorney James VanEerten detailed the prompt actions he took:
Prosecutor VanEerten also kindly apologized to the victim and her family for the “unfortunate, but coincidental” timing of a local newspaper interview about Johnson that ran alongside the filings, clarifying his interview occurred on June 8, well before the criminal affidavit came to light. He emphasized that “Ms. Huskey-Archacki is a victim and deserves to be treated with the utmost respect and dignity.”
Subodh Chandra, Ms. Huskey-Archacki’s lead counsel, said, “Ms. Huskey-Archacki appreciates the judge’s and prosecutor’s swift actions regarding these allegations. While she would have preferred that the court rule on probable cause and issue an arrest warrant for Johnson as Ohio law provides when the evidence supports it, she understands that the court prefers that a prosecutor first investigate.”
Chandra added, “Ms. Huskey-Archacki hopes that the special prosecutor will not cover this up or cut any sweetheart deals, and will recognize that of all people, a law-enforcement officer who falsifies public records, tampers with evidence, and fails to report felonies of which he is aware deserves especially exacting justice—or our system of justice cannot operate with integrity.”
Background on the criminal charges
The underlying private-citizen filing establishes probable cause that Trevor Johnson committed third-degree felony tampering with evidence and records, along with falsification, complicity, and failing to report felony crimes of which he was aware. The charges stem from an internal city investigation into a retaliatory boycott where, after she reported serial sexual assault and sexual harassment by former-Chief Kent Johnson, fellow Port Clinton firefighters refused to answer 9-1-1 calls while Huskey-Archacki was on duty.
Kent Johnson was later charged, did not contest a conviction, and was sentenced to jail for his misconduct toward Ms. Huskey-Archacki and the City of Port Clinton. A federal civil-rights suit for, among other things, sex discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment, sexual assault, civil liabilty for criminal acts, and disclosure of intimate images remains pending.
Trevor Johnson allegedly submitted false written statements denying any knowledge of the boycott and conspired with others to do so. But subpoenaed text messages caught Johnson actively coordinating the cover-up with other witnesses, stating, “Perfect. As soon as she’s gone, I’m back” and texting his father that “we will have our revenge... they fucked with the wrong family.”
When confronted with these text messages and other evidence during a federal civil deposition, Johnson invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 22 times.
Huskey-Archacki is represented by Subodh Chandra, Courtney Bow, and Emily Bohatch of The Chandra Law Firm LLC.
The charges are captioned In re: Criminal charges against Trevor Johnson, Ottawa County Court of Common Pleas Case No. 26-CVH-425. They may be found here.
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