Former Waite Hill Officer Found Guilty of Sexual Battery

CLEVELAND — A former Waite Hill police officer was found guilty on a charge of sexual battery related to a sex crime he committed with an underage boy.

Matthew Mole, 35, of Mentor, was found guilty of the charge during a bench trial before Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy McDonnell, according to Maria Russo with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.

Russo says a jury returned a hung verdict on Friday on the other charge Mole was facing, a single count of unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

Mole will be sentenced by McDonnell on August 27, 2012, according to Russo.

In December 2011, authorities were called to a Richmond Heights home after the 14-year-old boy’s mother told dispatchers she had found a naked man inside her home with her son.

When officers arrived at the home, Mole was placed under arrest.

Mole was a patrolman with the Waite Hill Police Department for five years prior to his resignation.