MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — A former Mayfield High School athletic trainer has been indicted on 14 charges related to an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old female student.
Detective Mark Justice from the Mayfield Village Police Department said Dean T. Ochi, a married father, had nude pictures of himself and of the teenage girl, who’s now 18, on his cell phone– pictures he’d taken himself. The detective told FOX 8 News reporter Lorrie Taylor the relationship began around Valentine’s Day of 2014.
“The relationship took place in his car, at his house and apparently at the school,” said Justice.
The Mayfield Village detective said forensic investigators from Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation also discovered hundreds of text messages between the two. Justice said the teenage girl shared some of those text messages with another student, who reported the relationship to an assistant coach.
On Tuesday, the Mayfield City Schools issued a letter to parents and to the community, informing them of Ochi’s indictment. It said he’d been fired in April when police began their investigation. His position with the Cleveland Clinic was also terminated at that time.
A clinic spokesperson told FOX 8: “We fully support the efforts of the Mayfield Schools, law enforcement and the judicial system which resulted in the recent indictments for this former employee. We fully cooperated in the investigation.”
Ochi has been indicted on 10 counts of sexual battery; three counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance; and one count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.
Attempts by FOX 8 to reach him were unsuccessful. He will be arraigned August 18 on all charges.