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WARREN -- A city police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave amid allegations she had been reaching out to other officers about confidential informants related to the rape case of her husband, who is a former officer.
Officer Taylor Edwards was placed on paid administrative leave after a discussion Tuesday, Safety / Service Director Eddie Colbert said. The move comes after Colbert met with Warren Mayor Doug Franklin, police chief Eric Merkel, internal affairs and the city human resources director Brian Massucci.
Colbert declined to make further comment, but confirmed Taylor Edwards is the target of an internal investigation following information disclosed in a motion by the prosecutor's office that brought alleged "inappropriate activity" on the part of Taylor Edwards to light.
Merkel also declined to make further comment because of the pending investigation.
Attempts to contact the city's HR department Tuesday regarding the salary of Taylor Edwards and additional information regarding her paid leave were not returned.
Taylor Edwards is the wife of former city policeman Michael Edwards Jr., now accused of raping at least two women identified only by two sets of initials in an indictment.
Michael Edwards, 43, faces 14 charges, including: three counts of first-degree rape; two counts of third-degree extortion; one count of third-degree sexual battery; four counts of gross sexual imposition; two counts of theft in office; and two misdemeanor charges of dereliction of duty.
The decision to take on Michael Edwards' case rather than seek a special prosecutor was decided on an "individualized case basis," according to Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins.
Watkins said his office handling the case was no issue because his office had no relationship with the former policeman.
Watkins cited previous instances of his office prosecuting police officers from departments in Trumbull County.
"Our office has, in the recent past, prosecuted former police officers like Noah Linen (false 911 call / fabricated a crime) and Chuckie List (shooting); former Champion officer Bob Kollar (LEADS violation); Michael Sheehy in Vienna (drug, theft case) and David Blosser of Weathersfield (falsification charge)," Watkins wrote in his statement.
A motion filed by Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Gabe Wildman ahead of Michael Edwards' Monday arraignment and bond hearing stated the defendant and his wife worked together through jail calls and text messages and "engaged other individuals to approach and surreptitiously record witnesses in this case."
The assistant prosecutor wrote that their actions demonstrated a
"continuing desire to abuse the power and authority vested in each of them by the Warren City Police Department," the document alleges.
The allegations were made as part of a motion Wildman wrote asking Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Cynthia Rice to hold Michael Edwards without bond.
Rice heard from Michael Edwards' attorney, Dominic Vitantonio, and Wildman on Monday afternoon before agreeing to let Michael Edwards' $750,000 bond continue. In the event that Michael Edwards is released on bond, he will be placed on house arrest.
Michael Edwards pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on April 1. A jury trial date has been scheduled for April 29, according to court records.
Vitantonio suggested that Michael Edwards' record showed no potential for him to be a danger to the community and argued for the bond to be reduced or removed.
On the issue of bond, Vitantonio explained to Rice that the defendant's motion for no bond was filed before counsel realized that there would be a second victim named in the indictment.
During the arraignment, Wildman said his office has discovered there could be five victims in the case, two of whom already had come forward.
Wildman said the reasoning behind his motion for no bond heavily relies on the strength of so-far discovered evidence in the case.
"I think the proof and the evidence in this case is overwhelming, indeed," Wildman said. "At least one of the incidents was captured on video. There is proof that he threatened and extorted one of the females in this case, he has access to firearms, or at least had, as his wife is still a member of the Warren Police Department. Presumably, she has a duty weapon."
Wildman said the case is rapidly changing as women continue to come forward.
"We can't control that. We haven't hidden the ball or anything, and we've been open about that with counsel. But the fourth victim came forward on Thursday," he said.
He explained that the fourth woman approached the Common Pleas security desk and asked to speak with the prosecutor involved in the case.
"I have serious concerns for if he was released, as to the safety of these victims. They're extremely concerned, vulnerable and afraid should he be released," Wildman wrote in his pitch for revoking bond.
Wildman also said the prosecutor's office has discovered phone records between Edwards and his wife in which they are accused of talking violently about the woman.
"We want to talk about threats of force between, many of these calls, while she is on duty as a Warren officer, speak of this victim and hoping she overdoses and dies, that they pray for this every night, hopes she gets hit by a bus, and run over by an 18-wheeler. This is how these two Warren police officers are talking about an alleged victim in a sexual assault case," Wildman said.