COLUMBUS, Ohio – A former Columbus vice officer was sentenced in the 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 was 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 minuscule amount, approximately .017 grams.
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.