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Latest federal-complaint amendment in sexual-abuse suit against former Port Clinton Fire Chief Kent Johnson details retaliation and Johnson admissions

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Latest federal-complaint amendment in sexual-abuse suit against former Port Clinton Fire Chief Kent Johnson details retaliation and Johnson admissions
Kent Johnson's mug shot.

TOLEDO, OH — Former Port Clinton firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT) Rebekah Huskey-Archacki filed a Fourth Amended and Supplemental Complaint in her federal civil-rights lawsuit against former Port Clinton Fire Chief Kent Johnson and the City of Port Clinton (Huskey v. City of Port Clinton, et al., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Case No. 3:23-cv-01910).

The updated complaint is the most comprehensive compilation of evidence gathered in the federal case. It incorporates new evidence uncovered during discovery and sworn deposition testimony regarding a coordinated campaign to cover up workplace retaliation, falsify public records, and drive Ms. Huskey-Archacki out of her job following her reports of Johnson’s serial sexual harassment and assault.

Newly uncovered allegations and deposition evidence

The Fourth Amended Complaint details evidence obtained during discovery, including sworn testimony from Johnson’s March 2, 2026 deposition and a March 3, 2026 deposition of Trevor Johnson—Kent Johnson’s son, a former Port Clinton fire lieutenant, and a major-crimes investigator for the Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office:

  • Fifth Amendment invocations: Confronted under oath with subpoenaed text messages and government records, Trevor Johnson invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination 22 times, when he was questioned about falsifying public records, tampering with evidence, and conspiring with fellow firefighters to obstruct an internal investigation into workplace retaliation.

  • Coordinated false submissions: When Port Clinton Safety Service Director Tracy Colston ordered department personnel in June 2024 to submit written statements regarding a firefighter boycott—in which volunteers refused to respond to emergency 9-1-1 calls when Ms. Huskey-Archacki was on duty—Trevor Johnson submitted a written statement claiming no knowledge of such conduct. But subpoenaed text messages cited in the amended complaint show Trevor Johnson and firefighter Keith Conte actively coordinated their responses to Colston, agreeing to falsely deny knowledge of the boycott and stating they would not return to duty until Ms. Huskey-Archacki was gone. In text exchanges with Conte, Trevor Johnson confirmed his refusal to respond to calls, writing, “As soon as she’s gone, I’m back,” and “My pager hasn’t been off the base since 2/18.”

  • Text logs exposing retaliatory intent: In text exchanges with his father, Trevor Johnson wrote, “Stay focused. I got more dirt tonight. Our time will come. Hopefully sooner than later, but we will have our revenge... they fucked with the wrong family.”

  • Constructive discharge: The complaint alleges that this environment of coordinated hostility, ostracism, and safety-strike retaliation created working conditions so hazardous for her (firefighters rely on one another for safety) that Ms. Huskey-Archacki was forced to resign from her firefighter/EMT position on March 27, 2024.

Key Admissions by Former Chief Kent Johnson

The Fourth Amended Complaint and attached court records highlight a series of sworn admissions, recorded statements, and discovery responses made by former fire chief Kent Johnson.

In his March 2, 2026 federal deposition, Johnson made several key admissions under oath regarding explicit photographs, stolen intimate images, and file collections recovered by Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) agents from his personal Google Drive account:

  • Stolen intimate photos of Ms. Huskey-Archacki: Johnson admitted under oath that he accessed and took intimate, explicit photographs of Ms. Huskey-Archacki without permission from either Ms. Huskey-Archacki or her then-fiancé (now husband). Johnson admitted he photographed the images using his own cellphone, which then backed up those boudoir photos to his personal Google Drive account.

  • Admission of initial lie to law enforcement: Johnson admitted under oath that when BCI Special Agent Tiffany Najmulski first confronted him about the intimate photographs, he lied to the agent by claiming the photos “were given to me.” Johnson admitted he changed his account only after Agent Najmulski pointed out that in one of the intimate photos he took, Johnson’s head and recognizable objects from his fire-department office were visible in reflections on the phone screen.

  • Admission of lack of authority: Johnson admitted under oath that searching the phone for intimate photos and taking images of them exceeded any professional duties or official authorization, admitting: “I should not have done it.” Johnson further admitted he possessed no search warrant, court order, or city-policy authorization to search personal cellphones.

  • Collection of breastfeeding images: Johnson admitted BCI agents recovered multiple photographs of women breastfeeding from his Google Drive account. While acknowledging the files were stored in his drive account, Johnson claimed he did not know how they got there and claimed—incredibly—that their presence was a “coincidence.” Before this corroborating revelation from law enforcement, Ms. Huskey-Archacki had previously alleged that Johnson repeatedly demanded to see her breastfeed, said she could sell tickets for it, and made other unwanted comments about her breasts and her breastfeeding.

  • Images of minors and TikTok screenshot: Johnson verified the depictions of several photographs recovered by BCI from his Google Drive account portraying young girls and boys in various states of undress or suggestive poses. This included a TikTok screenshot depicting a young girl with text reading “Top 10 TikTok dance no bra version 22.” Johnson claimed he had “not a clue” who the individuals were or how the images entered his personal Google Drive account.

  • Deletion of files: Johnson admitted he deleted the intimate photos from his phone to try to remove them, testifying he was unaware at the time that the files remained preserved in his Google Drive account.

  • Nonconsensual kiss: Johnson admitted that he kissed Ms. Huskey without her consent.

Other evidence of Johnson’s wrongdoing

The Fourth Amended Complaint also attached other key evidence of Johnson’s actions, including

  • Recorded statements to city officials: During a recorded June 6, 2023 meeting with City officials, Johnson admitted he “probably overstepped a boundary or two,” that Ms. Huskey-Archacki had “probably got enough to hang me out to dry,” and that “there’s going to be some texts and some other stuff.”

  • Requests for nude photographs: During a December 2023 interview with BCI, Johnson admitted that, when he sent a text message stating “pictures sure would help...” to Ms. Huskey-Archacki, he was asking for nude photographs.

  • Inappropriate text messages: Court records and sworn testimony establish that Johnson admitted sending text messages to Ms. Huskey-Archacki using emojis to state “you are hot,” calling her “sexy,” and writing “you are mine.... wonder about you all the time.”

  • “Emma” term of endearment: In formal written responses to Requests for Admission, Johnson admitted referring to Ms. Huskey-Archacki as his “sweet, beautiful, special Emma.”

  • Comments regarding appearance: During sworn civil-protection-order (CPO) hearing testimony, Johnson admitted telling Ms. Huskey-Archacki “your toes look good” and stating that her toes looked “sexy.”

  • N-95 mask text sequence: Johnson admitted sending a text asking Ms. Huskey-Archacki to carry N-95 masks in her pants before delivering them to his mailbox (“If you want to carry them in your pants for a while, that would be okay”), followed by a text stating, “Sorry for being crude.”

  • Physical contact: During the June 6, 2023 recorded meeting with City officials, Johnson admitted to kissing Ms. Huskey-Archacki.

  • Possession of intimate photographs: After initially lying, Johnson admitted to BCI investigators that he accessed without permission and retained intimate boudoir photographs of Ms. Huskey-Archacki on his personal Google Drive.

Chronological case background

Ms. Huskey-Archacki’s civil lawsuit and the surrounding administrative and criminal proceedings have progressed through several key milestones:

  • June 2023 meeting recording: On June 6, 2023, in response to a letter from Ms. Huskey-Archacki’s attorney, City Law Director Dina Shenker and then-Safety Service Director Tracy Colston placed Johnson on paid administrative leave. Johnson secretly recorded the meeting, during which he admitted to sending inappropriate text messages to Ms. Huskey-Archacki and admitted she’s “probably got enough to hang me out to dry.” The full audio recording of that meeting is published on The Chandra Law Firm’s YouTube channel.

  • September 2023: Ms. Huskey-Archacki filed her suit alleging that Johnson, using his governmental authority, serially sexually harassed and assaulted her.

  • December 2023 (city findings): An independent investigation commissioned by the City confirmed that Johnson engaged in sexual harassment and financial improprieties.

  • January 18, 2024: The City of Port Clinton fired Kent Johnson following an outside, independent investigation.

  • May 2024 (Second Amended Complaint): Ms. Huskey-Archacki filed a Second Amended Complaint after BCI revealed that Johnson had stolen intimate, explicit photographs from her phone. Johnson accessed the photos under the pretext of checking her “I Am Responding” first-responder application and transferred them to his personal Google Drive.

  • July 2024 (dismissal of Johnson’s lawsuit against Port Clinton and its officials): The Ottawa County Court of Common Pleas dismissed Johnson’s retaliatory lawsuit against the City, rejecting his claims of defamation and due-process violations. Johnson appealed the dismissal.

  • July 24, 2024: An Ottawa County grand jury indicted Johnson for various crimes including gross sexual imposition, assault, theft in office, unauthorized use of computers, and more.

  • September 2024 (Third Amended Complaint): Ms. Huskey-Archacki filed a Third Amended Complaint, adding claims for civil liability for gross sexual imposition, voyeurism, destruction of evidence, destruction of public records, and interference with her Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rights.

  • December 2024: The City of Port Clinton Civil Service Commission unanimously affirmed Johnson’s termination, with commissioners noting Johnson was “infatuated” with Ms. Huskey-Archacki and calling his appeal a “waste of time.”

  • July 2025 (criminal conviction and sentencing): Based on his no-contest plea, Johnson was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Ottawa County Court of Common Pleas Case No. 2024-CR-I-165A following his convictions for assault, telecommunications harassment, menacing, unauthorized use of property, and receiving stolen property.

    Latest federal-complaint amendment in sexual-abuse suit against former Port Clinton Fire Chief Kent Johnson details retaliation and Johnson admissions
    Rebekah Huskey testifying at Kent Johnson's sentencing about the impact of his crimes on her.

  • October 2025: Johnson filed a motion seeking early jail release, which Ms. Huskey-Archacki opposed.

  • March 2, 2026: Johnson was deposed and admitted, among other things, that he lied to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation about the nude images of Ms. Huskey-Archacki he had taken from her phone under the pretext of fixing her first responders’ app.

  • March 3, 2026: Kent Johnson’s son Trevor Johnson was deposed and was surprised when confronted with certain problematic images from his father’s phone, including a photo of his own child. Trevor Johnson also invoked Fifth Amendment privilege multiple times when asked questions about whether he falsified public records regarding a campaign of retaliation that he and others allegedly orchestrated.

Legal statutory claims

The Fourth Amended Complaint asserts claims under the federal civil-rights statute Section 1983 for constitutional-law violations including Equal Protection Clause sex discrimination under the Fourteenth Amendment and unconstitutional searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment. It also asserts statutory claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the FMLA, the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization (15 U.S.C. § 6851—disclosure of intimate images), and Ohio Revised Code § 2307.60 for civil damages arising from criminal acts.

“The discovery process has revealed that the abuse extended far beyond Kent Johnson’s physical acts,” said Subodh Chandra, lead counsel for Ms. Huskey-Archacki. “The record now shows a coordinated effort by department members—including someone who is also a prosecutor’s investigator—to falsify public records, cover up a safety-strike boycott, and retaliate against a whistleblower who reported serial sexual violence.”

Ms. Huskey-Archacki is represented by Subodh Chandra, Courtney Bow, and Emily Bohatch of The Chandra Law Firm LLC.

The Fourth Amended and Supplemental Complaint with exhibits in Huskey v. City of Port Clinton, et al., Case No. 3:23-cv-01910, U.S. District Court for the N.D. Ohio, can be found here.

And audio of Ms. Huskey-Archacki at Kent Johnson's criminal sentencing detailing what she endured and the impact on her can be found here.

About The Chandra Law Firm LLC

The Chandra Law Firm LLC is a boutique litigation firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, specializing in high-stakes civil-rights, sexual harassment, whistleblower protection, employment discrimination, and First Amendment litigation. For more information, visit www.ChandraLaw.com.

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Related Practice Areas
Employment RetaliationGovernment Ethics, Misconduct, Fraud, & AbuseSexual HarassmentSex/gender DiscriminationSection 1983 Litigation: Holding Government Officials Accountable for Constitutional ViolationsSexual Harassment at Work in California: Your Rights
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gross-sexual-impositionsexual-harassmentrebekah-huskey-archackiport-clintonrebekah-huskeykent-johnsoncity-of-port-clintonsexual-abusesexual-assault

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