Civil Rights & Constitutional Law
Federal suit: Port Clinton Fire Chief Kent Johnson sexually assaulted and harassed firefighter/EMT
September 29, 2023
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Former Port Clinton, OH fire chief Kent Johnson
Port Clinton, OH – Lead counsel for Rebekah Huskey-Archacki, Subodh Chandra, has written to Ottawa County, Ohio Prosecuting Attorney James VanEerten noting that, based on the evidence submitted to the Ottawa County Court of Common Pleas with criminal charges against his employee Trevor Johnson, Johnson is now a "Brady/Giglio" law-enforcement investigator, .
Ms. Huskey-Archacki's criminal charges accused Johnson and provided evidence that he falsified and conspired to falsify public records denying that he was aware others had retaliated against her after she accused his father, former Port Clinton, Ohio fire chief Kent Johnson, of sexual assault and sexual harassment.
"Brady/Giglio" is a term for a law-enforcement officer who has a documented history of dishonesty, misconduct, or credibility issues.
Because of this history, prosecutors are legally required to disclose the officer's background to the defense in any criminal case where that officer might testify.
Chandra's letter states as follows:
By now, you have acquired a copy of the private-citizen-initiated criminal charges under R.C. 2935.09(D) and 2935.10 that Rebekah Huskey-Archacki filed in the Ottawa County Court of Common Pleas against Agent Trevor Johnson of your office's Major Crimes Unit. A courtesy copy of those charges accompanies this letter.
A close review of the charging affidavit and its attached deposition transcript of Trevor Johnson should make it clear to you that Johnson is now a Brady/Giglio member of law enforcement. The evidence includes information about intentional falsification of public records, tampering with evidence, and tampering with records. If Johnson remains employed in law enforcement, your office is obligated from this point forward to provide this evidence to every criminal defendant in every case in which Johnson is involved. We trust you will do that. We will take steps to ensure that you do that, if you don't do so voluntarily.
It was not lost on Ms. Huskey-Archacki and her family that within days of becoming aware of these criminal charges, your office arranged for the publication of a puff piece in The Beacon prominently featuring Agent Johnson. The family perceives this as an act of great disrespect toward sexual-assault survivors and crime victims, despite the article’s efforts to profess the contrary.
Ms. Huskey-Archacki demands, based on the evidence of crimes contained in her affidavit and the accompanying evidence, that you place Agent Johnson on administrative leave pending the outcome of the proceedings. Simply put, Ms. Huskey-Archacki's view is that no one who has falsified public records as a public employee should be entrusted with the solemn responsibilities of law enforcement. That he was seeking to cover up misconduct benefiting his father—now convicted, among other things, of a violent crime against Ms. Huskey-Archacki and stealing Ms. Huskey's intimate images—is neither an excuse nor mitigating. If anyone should have known better, it was Trevor Johnson, who was working for the prosecutor when he committed the acts recounted in the affidavit.
The family trusts that you will recuse yourself completely from any criminal investigation of the matter.
The term comes from a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Brady v. Maryland. The Court ruled that prosecutors must turn over any "exculpatory evidence" (evidence favorable to the defendant) to the defense.
A later case, Giglio v. United States (1972), expanded this rule to include impeachment evidence—meaning anything that could undermine the credibility of a prosecution witness, including a police officer.
Prosecutors maintain internal logs, often called "Brady lists" or "Giglio lists," to track officers with credibility issues. An officer can be put on the list for various types of misconduct, including:
Dishonesty: Lying in internal investigations, falsifying police reports, or committing perjury on the witness stand.
Biased Behavior: A documented history of racial, gender, or religious bias.
Crimes: Being convicted of a crime, especially ones involving theft, fraud, or abuse of power.
Excessive Force: A pattern of undocumented or unjustified use of force.
If a "Brady cop" is a key witness in the prosecution of a crime, the defense attorney will use the officer's history to convince the jury that the officer cannot be trusted. Because of this, prosecutors are often highly reluctant to bring charges in cases where a Brady cop is the main or an important investigator, because the case becomes more difficult to win.
While being on a Brady list doesn't automatically mean an officer is fired (although it probably should), it often turns the officer into "damaged goods" within the department. Because the officer can no longer reliably testify in court, the officer is often reassigned to desk duty, property rooms, or other roles in which the officer doesn't interact with the public or make arrests.
Rebekah Huskey-Archacki's private-citizen-initiated criminal charges, brought under Ohio law, accuse Trevor Johnson of repeatedly lying, conspiring with witnesses, falsifying public records, and failing as a law-enforcement officer to report a felony, all to cover up a targeted campaign of workplace retaliation against Ms. Huskey-Archacki after the criminal investigation and civil suit against his father, former Port Clinton Fire Chief Kent Johnson, for serial sexual assaults of Ms. Huskey-Archacki and theft of her intimate images. At the time, Trevor Johnson worked for both the Ottawa County Prosecuting Attorney's office, and as a firefighter for the City of Port Clinton.
Kent Johnson was convicted and sentenced to 180 days in jail for the misconduct.
Ohio Revised Code § 2935.09(D) authorizes private citizens to file an affidavit charging criminal offenses. A reviewing official, in this case a judge, then reviews the affidavit for probable cause and, if probable cause is found, the judge should issue an arrest warrant.
Because the Ottawa County Court of Common Pleas judge recused himself, the charges have been assigned by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio to Visiting Judge James Bates, who retired from the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas.
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