Appeal of Federal Case Against Police is Dismissed

An appeal of a federal lawsuit against the Strongsville Police Department by a man who was acquitted on sex charges has been dismissed.

Daniel Roth  in U.S. District Court in 2008 against the police department and county prosecutors who charged him with gross sexual imposition charges.

He was found innocent of the charges.

Last April, the final part of the case was dismissed, but .

Law Director Ken Kraus said this week that appeal has been dismissed for want of prosecution.

Roth sued the police department and prosecutors over his 2005 arrest on sex charges. The allegations were made by the 15-year-old girlfriend his his 30-year-old son.

According to court documents, Roth in 2004 threw his 30-year-old son, Jeffrey, out of the house after he stole from him and used his credit cards. Jeffrey retaliated, including sending emails threatening to have his father charged with a bogus sex crime.

In 2005, Roth discovered Jeffrey had stolen his credit card and charged $11,000 at Nordstrom department store. He reported the crime to Beachwood police.

Ten days after Jeffrey was indicted on the charge, his 15-year-old girlfriend went to Strongsville police and alleged the elder Roth tried to sexually molest her at a local carnival five months earlier.

Roth was indicted on two counts and eventually found not guilty. But he contended that he should never have been charged because he showed evidence that his son concocted the molestation story as payback for having him arrested.

He filed the federal lawsuit alleging intimidation, violation of constitutional rights and malicious prosecution.

The court ruled that Roth's rights were not violated.

Dismissing a case for want of prosecution typically means the plaintiff failed to take action for did not show up at a hearing.