A woman says Scioto County Commissioner candidate Oran Crabtree raped her when she was just 15 years old. The alleged crime happened 27 years ago. She says she’s coming forward now because she doesn’t want to see a sexual predator in a position of political power.
Crabtree denies the charges and calls them “More political nonsense.”
However, the alleged victim provided SCDN with copies of police reports and records from 1995 that show her parents contacted the Sheriff’s Office regarding incidents involving Crabtree and their daughter.
Her parents told police, their 15-year-old daughter left home with a friend without asking for their permission. Around midnight, a teenage relative of Oran Crabtree contacted the parents and told them that the then 40-year-old Oran was with their daughter at his home and providing the teenager with alcohol and engaging in sexual activity.
The parents contacted the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office, who went to Crabtree’s home and were told that Crabtree and the girl were at another residence. According to the police log, the deputies took no action at the time and referred the matter to prosecutors.
Documents provided to SCDN show heavily redacted witness statements that confirm some of the details of the night. The victim says it wasn’t just a case of an older man involved with a teen and providing her with alcohol. She says Crabtree raped her.
Crabtree a “Cool Guy”
According to the victim, she was dating one of Crabtree’s teenage relatives, and Crabtree was known as a ‘cool guy’ who provided teenagers with alcohol and weed. She says she snuck out of her home to go to a party at Oran’s house, where she drank, and Crabtree made moves on her.
“I told him no multiple times. I told him I did not want sex. I told him he was too old. I told him I was on my period. None of that mattered to him. He was determined to take from me something I could never get back.”
She says she only told her parents about the attack because someone said to her that Crabtree had a serious sexually transmitted disease. “I was scared to death.”
Parents Declined to Press Charges
According to the police report at the time, the victim’s parents declined to press charges. The victim did want to press charges but couldn’t as a minor and authorities followed the parents’ wishes and dropped the investigation. A decision she says she regrets after hearing that a similar incident happened to another teenage girl (her parents also declined to press charges, but the investigative notes were also included in the information provided to SCDN) and after learning that Crabtree was accused of and charged with a sexual incident involving a mentally disabled patient that put his nursing license in jeopardy during the same time period.
Crabtree denied the charges of patient abuse as well. He claimed the accusations were the result of the patient becoming confused while he was assisting her in the bathroom and said that’s why he stopped helping female patients in the bathroom.
Police records from the time show he was arrested and charged with patient abuse. However, those charges were reduced to misdemeanors.
The victim says Crabtree’s run for the commission has brought it all back. “I thought I was over it and now am subjected with seeing his name on signs EVERYWHERE! It brought up some traumatic responses. I do not want to see someone like him in power. And based on his lies and responses about losing his nursing license, it is clear to me he has not changed. One of the big problems is there are too man Orans in this world. Too few adults kids can trust. Too many people are robbing the vulnerable, and too many people are letting it happen. Scioto County doesn’t need any more Orans, Mike Mearans, or people in power preying on the weak.”
The Victim Today
Today, the victim has grown up, is married with a growing family. She has earned 2 Master’s Degrees. She says “I know now that my actions as a 15 year old girl experiencing trauma were normal. I was doing the best I could to cope with an unthinkable situation.”
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