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Man who recorded children at Kings Island loses appeal of weapons, drugs convictions

JESSICA SHAMBAUGH
Special to the Legal News

Published: September 16, 2014

A man reported for suspicious activity at the Kings Island amusement park was properly convicted for drugs and weapons offenses, according to a recent ruling from the 12th District Court of Appeals.

Rodney Grisham first came to the attention of Kings Island security when the parent of a young boy reported that Grisham made “inappropriate contact” with the child.

The man told security that while he and his family were waiting in line for a ride, Grisham was waiting ahead of them in line.

As the family moved through the queue, Grisham would reach out and try to play with the child by placing his sunglasses on the boy’s head.

The man said he eventually boarded the ride and left his 2-year-old son with the boy’s cousin at the end of the ride.

Grisham reportedly left the ride before the boy’s father and approached him and his cousin.

Witnesses told security that Grisham reached out to hold the child and told his cousin, “it’s OK, I know” the child.

When Grisham noticed the boy’s father returning on the ride, he left the scene.

The boy’s cousin told the man what had happened and he immediately reported it to security.

Both the boy’s father and his cousin were able to identify Grisham in the photos taken on the ride.

Kings Island security then issued a report with Grisham’s description and he was quickly detained and agreed to go to the security office for questioning. He was not handcuffed or restrained and he voluntarily waived his Miranda rights.

During questioning, Grisham admitted that he was a convicted felon and that he had a shotgun in his semi-truck that was parked in the Kings Island lot.

He also told the detective that his sunglasses had the capability to videotape and that he had recorded children throughout the park that day, including a young child dancing with Snoopy and a young girl playing near the Eiffel Tower attraction.

Grisham explained that he would download the videos to his laptop but would delete them unless the parents gave him permission to keep them or post them to YouTube.

The detective noted that Grisham got excited and spoke more quickly when discussing children and recalled several previous interactions with children.

She then expressed her suspicion that Grisham may have child pornography and he gave her permission to remove the shotgun from his truck and make copies of his laptop’s hard drive.

The detective eventually led Grisham to the truck and was joined by other officers, including a canine handler.

The canine alerted to the presence of drugs in the truck and two officers immediately noticed the smell of marijuana when they opened the door.

The officers found no marijuana but they did locate a loaded shotgun, two loaded pistols, a large amount of ammunition and Vicodin, for which Grisham did not have a prescription.

They located the laptop but also found several other electronic devices. Also in the truck were a stun gun, knives, lock picks, red and blue dash lights, a police hat and mace containers.

Based on those finds, the officers obtained a search warrant and seized all of the electronics.

A thorough search did not reveal any child pornography or illegal images.

Grisham was charged with having weapons under disability and possession of drugs. He filed a motion to suppress the evidence, which was denied, and ultimately pleaded no contest.

The Warren County Court of Common Pleas found him guilty on both counts and sentenced him to the maximum three years for the weapons offense, to run concurrently with a nine-month term for the Vicodin.

On direct appeal to the 12th District, Grisham argued that his statements to the detective and the objects in his truck should have been suppressed because Kings Island security did not have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

He asserted that speaking to the child and trying to hold him was not inappropriate and did not warrant his prolonged detention.

Rather, Grisham noted that not too long ago it was acceptable for grandmothers and grandfathers to distribute wisdom to neighborhood children.

He claimed the phrase “it takes a village” has now “evidentially become ‘don’t talk to my child.’”

“Despite Grisham’s framing of the issue as activity that was purely innocent, if not nostalgic, we find that the stop and investigation were proper,” Judge Robin Piper wrote for the three-judge appellate panel.

Upon review of the record, the judges found that Grisham never denied his repeated interactions with the child and also admitted to recording unsuspecting children throughout the park.

They also reviewed the recording and noted that Grisham conceded that he is entertained by children playing but is not sexually aroused by children.

Still, the judges noted that he got excited when discussing children and that his mannerisms “were disturbing and gave rise to suspicion that Grisham could possibly have been involved in crimes against children.”

“Moreover, Grisham’s statements that he was a convicted felon and that he possessed firearms in his semi-truck gave officers probable cause to believe that a crime was most certainly afoot,” Judge Piper stated.

“This evidence, when viewed through the eyes of the reasonable and prudent police officers on the scene who must react to the events as they unfold, constituted reasonably articulable facts giving rise to a suspicion of criminal activity.”

Based on those findings, the appellate panel overruled Grisham’s first assignment of error.

He next contended that the trial court erred by sentencing him to the maximum prison term for his weapons violation because it based its decision on child porn suspicions.

The district judges ruled that the trial court’s sentence was not contrary to law.

It explained its decision by reiterating that Grisham had three loaded firearms in his truck, as well as ammunition, despite being a felon.

The trial court did mention the disturbing circumstances surrounding Grisham’s detainment, but stated that its sentencing decision was not based on that information.

“The record does not indicate that the trial court increased its sentence because of those circumstances, or based the sentence on any crime except those for which Grisham had been charged and convicted,” Judge Piper wrote, affirming the lower court’s sentence.

Presiding Judge Robert Hendrickson and Judge Michael Powell concurred.

The case is cited State v. Grisham, 2014-Ohio-3558.

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