Kimball Perry

kperry@enquirer.com

Darrell Beavers was many things to those who knew him.

To his family, he was a loving provider who played college football, tried out for the pros and coached junior and high school sports.

To his employer, he was a respected Cincinnati police officer, a 12-year veteran who was so well-liked in the department and by those he served that he worked as a community liaison for CPD.

To landlord Mariann Hock, he was the answer to how she could better keep her tenants and property safe.

But Beavers was so much more – and so few knew about it.

To Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, Beavers was a "rogue cop" who destroyed the trust the public and fellow officers had in him. Sent to prison for a year, Beavers proved to be a secret sinner – hiding behind his badge and the oath to serve and protect while lying as he committed a sexually oriented crime against a 17-year-old girl who had been the victim of sex abuse.

Now, Cincinnati police are reopening their investigation to see if other officers might have been involved in illegal activity at two bogus substations that Beavers created at apartment buildings. The investigation was reopened after The Enquirer asked why DNA from the two locations never was tested.

Beavers' case shows how rare and difficult it is for the police to investigate their own. It also shows how the trust police earn can be abused by crooked cops, ultimately bringing shame on the department and causing feelings of betrayal.

"This actually turns out to be a sick situation," said Ralph Winkler, the judge who sent Beavers to prison in October. "He actually had a secret life nobody knew about."

Beavers was a married father of three when he was accused in September 2013 of exchanging 650 text messages and photos, many of them sexually explicit, with a teen. The girl's stepfather saw the messages and called police.

Because of that investigation, police learned the stepfather had had a sexual relationship with the girl beginning when she was 14. The man was convicted and placed on probation, which he quickly violated. He's next in court in January, facing a possible three-year prison term.

Police also learned that Beavers convinced two landlords to let him use their properties for police substations. He never asked for or received department permission, though, to use the apartments for police work. While the fake substations may have been used briefly for official business – how were other cops to know they weren't officially approved substations? – much of the time Beavers used them for a good time, bringing girls and booze into the rooms to party.

'Happy to have some presence'

As owner of a West Price Hill apartment complex, Hock paid to install at the Rapid Run Terrace & Villa Apartments more exterior lighting and surveillance cameras to try to make her tenants feel safer.

"I liked Darrell," Hock said from her Green Township home. "I was just happy to have some presence. Prostitution is a big issue in Price Hill, and police have been slow."

Beavers told her he had an interest in real estate. She told him she wanted to keep prostitution and drug dealing away from her 4656 Rapid Run Road property. On Oct. 5, 2012, she met with Beavers and another man – "He told me it was his sergeant, his supervisor" – to finalize the arrangement. Hock waived the $580 monthly rent and allowed free utilities from October 2012 through April 2013.

"I saw a uniformed police officer come in and out, a couple of other officers, a couple of plainclothes (officers), a couple of females" but no signs of wrongdoing, Hock said.

Beavers bought a full-sized bed and took it with him when, months later, Hock ended the arrangement, saying the officer's presence no longer was needed.

"He was a great guy," Hock said. "He was helpful, he was calm. He was a great negotiator. There was value that we got from him being there."

'Are all cops like that?'

Neighbors at the second fake substation, French Quarter Apartments, an East Price Hill complex at 2600 Bushnell St., disagreed.

Aarik Ford had issues with Beavers from the start. He saw Beavers and another officer looking into windows of the apartments. Ford was offended that Beavers asked him and other residents to provide names of those who visited them, presumably so he could do background checks on them.

"He was here regularly," Ford said. "I saw him take two girls into the apartment ... I seen him at least twice with (other) officers and at least twice with girls going into the substation."

Darlene Etter, another resident of the French QuarterApartments and a city of Cincinnati crossing guard, watched Beavers put up the decal in the complex window indicating it was a City of Cincinnati police substation. Her son saw even more.

"He said he seen girls down there," Etter said. "He said it looked like they (were) down there drinking.

"People already don't trust police officers and when you do that, it makes it worse. It makes you wonder, are all the cops like that?"

Cincinnati police wondered if other officers were involved in Beavers' scam. They asked him several times to talk to them about that but he refused.

"It was their belief that there are other Cincinnati police officers (who) have used, were using the so-called substation for other activity other than police work," Carl Lewis, Beavers' attorney said. "My client was not in a position to give them any information."

Beavers pleaded guilty to reduced charges – attempted tampering with records and illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material. Lewis said had the case gone to trial, he would have argued the substations were "crash pads" used by officers who wanted a few hours of sleep before heading back to work, court or an off-duty job.

"The place was set up for any officer in District 3 when they wanted to recharge their battery," Lewis said.

When police searched the French Quarter apartment Beavers used, they found pornographic material, personal lubricant, sheets stained with body fluid and a night-vision camera. They "found several indications that the two beds in the apartment were used frequently for sexual activity," Sgt. David Schofield said. "This camera was set up to surreptitiously record activity that was occurring in the bedrooms."

Chief: No other officers suspected

After Beavers pleaded guilty to reduced charges, police closed the case, never sending the bedding for DNA testing.

It costs about $300, the Hamilton County Coroner office said, to test for DNA and compare it to a known sample. Because he's in prison, Beavers' DNA now is on file with the Ohio Department of Correction and Rehabilitation and can be compared to the DNA found on the bedding.

After questions by The Enquirer about the lack of DNA testing in the Beavers case, Blackwell said he would reopen the case to have the bedding tested.

"I think we definitely would have a need to go further," Blackwell said. "We would be willing to exhaust any investigatory procedure to get a complete picture."

If the DNA matches only Beavers, the case is over. If there is DNA on the bedding from someone else, it may not matter. That's because police have no other DNA to compare to the bedding results. They can't force officers to provide DNA or be tested.

"To the average person making a judgment about DNA," Blackwell said, "one could easily think we could test our officers, but we can't."

Police, like other citizens, have constitutional rights not to be searched without cause. Cincinnati police also have a union contract that would prevent such a search.

"We have no reason to believe any other police officers were involved in criminal activity" in the Beavers case, Blackwell said, but "we do believe that there were other people who knew about this."

Beavers is scheduled to be released from prison on Oct. 29, 2015.

Beavers not only Cincinnati cop convicted

Darrell Beavers' case wasn't the first of a Cincinnati police officer accused of using an apartment to commit crimes while a cop.

In 2010, Detective Julian Steele was convicted of arresting and jailing a juvenile he knew committed no crime. Steele was accused of locking the teen up to get access to the boy's mother. She later said she felt intimidated by Steele and performed oral sex on him – in a Winton Terrace apartment Steele kept in addition to his Springfield Township house – to help get her son released.

Steele, a 14-year officer with Cincinnati police, was sentenced to four years in prison but didn't start serving that time until four months ago because of appeals.