Area school custodian sues village, police over dismissed rape case
May 6—A West Milton man who was charged with rape last year, then saw the case dismissed when his child accuser recanted months later, has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the village of West Milton, its police and others involved in the criminal case.
Attorneys for Jerry North, who was working as the custodian at Milton Union elementary school, filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Dayton.
Named as defendants are the village of West Milton, Police Chief Doyle Wright; officers James Leonard and Jason Stevens; the parents of the then-alleged victim; and Jennifer Knisley of Isaiah's Place in Troy, a social worker who interviewed the boy on behalf of the police department.
The suit claims the defendants acted "in willful, reckless and callous disregard of plaintiff's (North) rights under federal and state law."
The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages that would be set at a trial.
West Milton Village Manager Jeff Sheridan said Monday the village had not yet received notification of the lawsuit but would have no comment.
North was arrested in May 2023 and accused of sexual misconduct between 2018 and 2021 with a boy who claimed he had been sexually molested. North maintained that he was innocent and pleaded not guilty to rape, gross sexual imposition and intimidation of a victim or witness.
He was scheduled to go on trial in January, and two days before the trial was to begin, the boy, now age 11, told prosecutors and victim advocates that he had fabricated the allegations.
The parents of the child filed a civil lawsuit against the school district last fall in Miami County Common Pleas Court, claiming the schools were told about suspected harassment and abuse but failed to properly investigate, and report the allegations to law enforcement.
That lawsuit later was moved to federal court in Dayton. It was dismissed after the boy changed his story.
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