State v. Conrad

2018 Ohio 5291
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 28, 2018
DocketCA2018-01-016
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2018 Ohio 5291 (State v. Conrad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Conrad, 2018 Ohio 5291 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Conrad, 2018-Ohio-5291.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS

TWELFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO

BUTLER COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO, : CASE NO. CA2018-01-016

Appellee, : OPINION 12/28/2018 : - vs - :

TYLER M. CONRAD, :

Appellant. :

CRIMINAL APPEAL FROM BUTLER COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS Case No. CR2016-11-1707

Michael T. Gmoser, Butler County Prosecuting Attorney, Willa Concannon, Government Services Center, 315 High Street, 11th Floor, Hamilton, OH 45011, for appellee

Engel & Martin, LLC, Mary K. Martin, 5181 Natorp Blvd., Suite 210, Mason, Ohio 45040, for appellant

M. POWELL, J.

{¶ 1} Appellant, Tyler Conrad, appeals from his convictions in the Butler County

Court of Common Pleas for sexual imposition and contributing to the unruliness of a child.

For the reasons discussed below, this court affirms Conrad's convictions.

{¶ 2} Conrad was a teacher at a public senior high school. The state alleged that

Conrad – then 26 years old – had an inappropriate relationship with "S.," a 15-year-old Butler CA2018-01-016

female student. The allegations involved several incidences of sexual activity occurring in

and out of school.

{¶ 3} Following a police investigation, Conrad was indicted for two counts of sexual

battery in violation of R.C. 2907.03(A)(7), third-degree felonies (hereinafter the sexual

battery offenses). The sexual battery offenses were based upon two instances where

Conrad allegedly digitally penetrated S. while she was alone with him in his classroom.

Conrad was also indicted with one count of contributing to the unruliness of a child, a

violation of R.C. 2919.24(A)(2) (2016), a first-degree misdemeanor, and sexual imposition,

a violation of R.C. 2907.06(A)(4), a third-degree misdemeanor. These two charges related

to an incident where Conrad secretly met with S. and took her to his friend's home in Ross

Township, Butler County, Ohio (hereinafter "the Ross Twp. offenses"), where he allegedly

rubbed S.'s vagina. Conrad entered not guilty pleas to the charges and the matter

proceeded to a bench trial.

{¶ 4} S. testified that she was a sophomore student in Conrad's history class during

the 2015 - 2016 school year. At Conrad's request, she began to work as his teacher's aide

during a free study hall period. Conrad began to flirt with S. S. testified that Conrad would

sometimes sit beside her and touch her legs or approach her from behind and lay his hands

on her shoulders.

{¶ 5} As the close of the 2015 - 2016 school year approached, Conrad gave S. his

cellular phone number and invited her to text message him "happy birthday" on his birthday.

The two subsequently exchanged numerous text messages and calls over the summer of

2016 and into the next school year. S. did not tell her parents that she was communicating

with Conrad in this manner and only told her friend, O.

{¶ 6} S. alleged that Conrad repeatedly requested that she meet with him out of

school and offered to pick her up in his vehicle. On one occasion, S. and her friend, O,

-2- Butler CA2018-01-016

were having a sleepover when Conrad called. S. put the call on the speaker phone setting.

O. recognized Conrad's voice. Conrad was asking S. if they could meet. S. declined

Conrad's invitation.

{¶ 7} On another occasion toward the end of the 2015 - 2016 school year, Conrad

called S. and asked that she meet him by her neighborhood swimming pool. S. agreed.

Because she believed her parents would not have permitted her to meet with Conrad, S.

lied and told her parents that she was going to meet a friend. S. left her home and met

Conrad at the arranged rendezvous location.

{¶ 8} Conrad drove S. to Conrad's friend's home in Ross Township ("the Ross

home"). They went into the home, sat on the couch, and talked. Eventually, Conrad left

the room, then returned and told S. to "come here." When S. responded, Conrad then

began kissing her, lifted her up, carried her into a bedroom, and laid her down on the bed

where he continued to kiss her. Conrad then proceeded to rub her vagina, initially outside

the clothing, then underneath. When Conrad sensed that S. was uncomfortable, he

stopped and left the room.

{¶ 9} S. returned to the couch. She and Conrad watched television for some time

until S. announced that she should probably return home. Conrad dropped her off at a

shopping center near her home. During her testimony, S. could not recall exactly when this

incident occurred other than during the summer of 2016. O. testified that S. called her and

told her what happened shortly after it occurred and while O. was on vacation in Tennessee

around Memorial Day 2016.

{¶ 10} The state submitted evidence of cellular phone communications between

Conrad and S. from May 6, 2016 to October 9, 2016. During this time, Conrad and S.

exchanged 2,876 text messages and 73 calls. Conrad initiated most of the text messages

and calls. Many of these communications occurred outside of school hours, late at night

-3- Butler CA2018-01-016

and into the early morning hours.

{¶ 11} Conrad and S. continued communicating and interacting with one another into

S.'s junior year. Security camera videotapes capturing the hallway outside of Conrad's

classroom were admitted at trial and depicted S. walking into Conrad's classroom

repeatedly at a time when Conrad was not teaching a class. Comparing the cellular phone

records with the timestamp on the security videotapes indicated that that the two were

exchanging text messages contemporaneously with S. visiting with Conrad in his empty

classroom. S. testified that during one of these visits to Conrad's classroom, Conrad

touched her vagina on the outside of her leggings and on another occasion, he put his hand

inside her spandex shorts and digitally penetrated her vagina.

{¶ 12} S. testified that she was attending a religious youth camp and heard a sermon

which convinced her that what she had been doing with Conrad was wrong and that it had

to stop. On October 9, 2016, she told a religious youth leader about her relationship with

Conrad. The youth leader in turn called child protective services. Police then began an

investigation.

{¶ 13} Police conducted several interviews with S., who was reluctant to cooperate.

In the initial round of interviews, S. denied that any sexual activity took place at the school.

She later admitted that sexual activity occurred at the school, and that digital penetration

had occurred on more than one occasion. S. led police to the Ross home. Coincidentally,

as they drove by the Ross home, Conrad was standing in the driveway.

{¶ 14} Police interviewed Conrad. He admitted a "good relationship" with S. and

conceded that they had been in communication. However, Conrad denied any inappropriate

relationship or that any sexual activity occurred. Police confiscated Conrad's phone and

later downloaded its contents. The content of the text communications between Conrad

and S. had been erased.

-4- Butler CA2018-01-016

{¶ 15} Similarly, at Conrad's direction, S. had erased from her cellular phone all the

text messages exchanged with Conrad. S. explained that Conrad had once observed his

name on her cellular phone and had taken the phone from her and deleted all their

conversations. Conrad warned S.

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2018 Ohio 5291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-conrad-ohioctapp-2018.