Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault task force brings over 800 predators to justice

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force announced Wednesday that it holds the highest total indictments of any similar task force in the United States.

A press release from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office states that the task force investigations led to indictments of 809 sex crimes defendants.

The release said investigations uncovered 850 serial offenders, so these indictments effect over 900 survivors.

“The Task Force’s tireless efforts have brought over 800 sexual predators to justice,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said.

The Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force began in 2013, with the goal of solving crimes by finally testing rape kits left untested from 1993 to 2011.

The release said the task force has investigated 7,024 crimes, and the conviction rate of indicted offenders is 93.2%.

The average prison sentence of indicted defendants is over 10 years.

“Despite this success, we know that more violent offenders remain lurking on our streets,” O’Malley said. “We continue to explore new avenues to bring others who have evaded law enforcement to justice.”

The release said the task force indicted 13 people this last week, including the 800th defendant Angel Cruz, who the task force said broke into a 27-year-old woman’s home and sexually assaulted her multiple times in Aug. 2007.

Cruz’s charges include six counts of Rape and one count of Aggravated Burglary.

Other indictments from this week include:

- Jason Williams, 40, accused of rape, kidnapping and gross sexual imposition from a Jan. 2002 crime

- Shawn McGrath, 51, accused of rape and kidnapping from a Aug. 2006 crime

- Milton Sherrod, 35, accused of rape and complicity from a May 2004 crime

- Anthony Browning, 38, accused of rape and complicity from a May 2004 crime

- John Doe #166, accused of rape, robbery and kidnapping from a Sep. 2002 crime

The Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force is a partnership between the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, Cleveland Police Department, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department, Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

Copyright 2020 WOIO. All rights reserved.