Dayton, OH: A Dayton police officer pleaded guilty to criminal charges after authorities conducted a probe into the allegations against the officer.
A Dayton police sergeant has pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges after being accused of misconduct by several women in a secret Facebook group chat called “Are We Dating the Same Guy?”
Authorities say that 42-year-old Joseph Setty of Farmersville pleaded guilty on Thursday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to two counts of disorderly conduct, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, and illegal restraint, a third-degree misdemeanor.
Several women have accused Setty of having sexual relations with them without their permission. One woman said she thought Setty would not let her leave his house unless she did something sexual, according to records obtained by this news organization from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Since Chadrick was appointed as a special prosecutor in the case to avoid a conflict of interest with local officials, he told this newspaper that the details of the incidents meant that felony charges for sex crimes could not be brought. The evidence backed the claims that “sex offenses” happened.
Chadrick said that in Ohio, felony sex crimes can be charged when the suspects use force, the victim is a minor, or there is a special relationship between the two people, like if the suspect was a teacher or coach and the victim was a student or player, or if a police officer had sex with someone who was in their custody.
Chadrick said that even though Setty is a police officer, he did not use his job to force people to have sexual encounters.
Partner Antony “Tony” Abboud of the Dayton law firm Gounaris Abboud is defending Setty. Dayton Daily News has asked him for a response, but he hasn’t replied. According to the BCI report, in March 2023, he told Ohio BCI Senior Special Agent John Rodriguez that his client rejected the charges and refused to be interviewed.
The judge has not yet decided what to do with Setty. Chadrick said that Setty could get up to 150 days in jail or probation, but he hasn’t talked about the sentence with the victims yet, so he doesn’t have a suggestion yet.
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