On October 29, 2014, Bryan D. Lee, 30, a former Trooper with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, pleaded guilty to four counts of violating the civil rights of female motorists and one count of cyber stalking. Lee offered not to ticket the women for traffic violations, in exchange for sexual favors and naked photographs.
The oversexed State Trooper drew attention to himself, when his superiors noticed him turning off his microphone and flirting with women he pulled over for suspected drunken driving. Lee was feeling invincible for a good reason. Years earlier, in 2009, he was caught turning off his microphone and failing to issue speeding tickets to fellow troopers. Lee joked with his buddies, after they sped by on their motorcycles at nearly 150 mph. His punishment was limited to a one-day unpaid suspension.
Lee was also investigated for sexually harassing a woman, after she filed a complaint. On November 19, 2010, Lee stopped a female driver, who wrecked her car. He accused the motorist of being drunk and had handcuffed her hands behind her back. Lee then instructed her to lean over the cruiser, outside of the view of his dashboard camera. He fondled her breasts and rubbed his penis against her hands. When the woman filed a complaint, Lee simply lied his way out of it. On November 21, 2010, Lee groped another woman in a similar manner. He found a bag of pills and drug paraphernalia in the woman’s car, but didn’t charge her. After crudely fondling the female, Lee took her to jail for an outstanding arrest warrant and cited her for speeding and driving with a suspended license. Facing no consequences for his abuses, the trooper grew ever more brazen.
After pulling over female motorists, Lee invited them to get into his cruiser, drove them to remote locations and sexually assaulted them. He photographed sexual encounters with his cell phone and cyber-stalked some of the women on social media, demanding that they send him nude photographs of themselves. Some of Lee’s sexual assaults took place while the women were under arrest and restrained in handcuffs. He harassed and threatened some the victims.
Lee was caught when his supervisor decided to review his dash-cam videos, alarmed by the fact that the trooper violated the rules by turning off his microphone. The search of Lee’s phone revealed evidence of his illicit sexual acts, which he documented for posterity.
Lee pleaded guilty to coercing sex from women he stopped or arrested. He is facing up to nine years in prison. Lee’s sentencing hearing will be scheduled by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson of the Southern District of Ohio.