1996-1997: The United States vs. The City of Steubenville

After a year-long investigation, the Justice Department made Steubenville's police department just the second in history forced to sign an agreement setting up new measures to combat police corruption under the 1994 Crime Bill. Here is part of the 1997 ruling on misconduct involving the city police and the city manager — the same two offices, it turns out, that spoke out in this weekend's new fact-finding mission:

The United States brings this action to enforce Section 210401 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C. § 14141. The United States alleges that officers of the Steubenville Police Department have engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured and protected by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and that the City of Steubenville, the Steubenville Police Department, and the Steubenville City Manager (in his capacity as Director of Public Safety) have caused and condoned this conduct through inadequate policies and failure to train, monitor, supervise, and discipline police officers, and to investigate alleged misconduct.

Part of that agreement involved promising to start a new training program for all police officers, including a special section on domestic violence, as well as a new internal-affairs policy.

The Celebrity Testimonies

When it comes to famous people claiming Steubenville as home, Dean Martin is the crown jewel. Then there's former porn star Traci Lords, who fled town after being sexually abused there at the age of 10. And, as has been making ripples on Twitter over the last week, there is the experience of Rza, the poetic rapper and filmmaker most famous for leading the Wu-Tang Clan. In his 2010 memoir The Tao of Wu, Rza wrote the following of his hometown:

Sheriff Abdalla and Rape

The New York Times story that first brought the case to national attention focused on the plight of city police chief William McCafferty, who was having trouble gathering eyewitness accounts. Collecting that kind of information was ostensibly the point of the efforts by Anonymous, but the hacking collective has focused instead on Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla, suggesting that he is close with Steubenville football coach Reno Saccoccia and that he was responsible for "inadvertently" deleting key video evidence. Over the weekend Abdalla took Anonymous to task in his office at an Occupy Steubenville rally, but as the spotlight refocuses on Abdalla, stories have surfaced all across social media suggesting that the sheriff might not be sympathetic to rape victims. Here's the Facebook post currently being highlighted by Anonymous:

Trippanti has not yet responded to a request for clarification from The Atlantic Wire, but but according to LocalLeaks, the WikiLeaks-style site amassing tips with Anonymous, the alleged victim of the controversial August incident had a similar experience talking to prosecuting attorney for Jefferson County, who is also the mother of a football player now in trouble with his university for allegedly throwing the party in question.