Rodney Grisham speaks to his attorney in Warren County Common Pleas Court Monday. Grisham, a convicted felon, is accused of having weapons and drugs at Kings Island. The Enquirer/Cara Owsley
A Mason police officer’s suspicion that a Texas truck driver allegedly had inappropriate interactions with children at Kings Island gave police the right to detain him, a Warren County judge ruled Monday.
Warren County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Peeler denied a motion filed by attorneys for Rodney Grisham to toss out weapon and drug evidence confiscated during a search of his semi-truck at the Mason amusement park.
Grisham, 37, of Dallas, Tex., is charged with one count of having weapons under disability, a third-degree felony, and one count of drug possession, a fifth-degree felony.
Kings Island security personnel apprehended Grisham at the Mason amusement park on July 2 after receiving reports that he had displayed unusual behavior towards children, at one point allegedly trying to take a toddler from the child’s older cousin.
The security officers asked Grisham to return with them to the park’s security office, where Mason Police Det. Toni Hoelke was working an off-duty detail at the park.
Hoelke told the judge she took Grisham into an interview room and read him his rights before proceeding to question him about the alleged behavior. Grisham, she said, was not under arrest and willingly answered questions in the two-hour interview.
During the interview, Grisham admitted to being a convicted felon and having a loaded shotgun in his truck. Grisham’s criminal history, which includes a prior felony offense of violence conviction out of Kansas, prohibits him from owning a gun.
Officers discovered Grisham had worn sunglasses containing a hidden video camera which they say he admitted to using to record children at the park throughout the day.
Grisham also admitted to having had previous interactions with police due to his use of the video camera sunglasses to record children at a Kansas mall and Texas amusement park.
Grisham gave police limited consent to search his truck and take possession of his laptop computer, electronics and firearms. During that search, police found three firearms, ammunition and prescription Vicodin not prescribed to Grisham in an unmarked bottle.
Police obtained a search warrant the next morning and confiscated additional weapons, including three knives and two containers of the chemical irritant Mace; gun parts; more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition; digital media devices, DVDs, videotapes; more than $16,000 in cash and law enforcement materials, including two police hats, red and blue LED lights and a lock pick set, among other items.
Grisham’s attorney, William Fowler, argued that “armed” park police officers escorted Grisham to the security office by a “show of force” and that once in the interview room, he was separated from the exit and did not believe he was free to leave.
Grisham’s confession to being a convicted felon and possessing a firearm came after Hoelke advised him she had reviewed video surveillance of his interaction with the child — although no such video existed — and said that she did not believe he intended to snatch the toddler, he said.
Because Hoelke had acknowledged that no criminal activity had occurred, police lacked reasonable suspicion to detain Grisham and any evidence obtained after that point should be suppressed, he told the judge.
Hoelke testified that she only said that in an attempt to build a rapport with Grisham as part of the investigation and that she continued to suspect Grisham of having child pornography on his laptop computer and that he was possibly involved in the abduction of children.
Peeler noted that police read Grisham his rights and that he chose to answer their questions and provide them with information.
“The officer had reasonable articulable suspicion to investigate this matter based on the information that had been provided to her by patrons and employees of Kings Island,” said Peeler.
“(Grisham) could have chose at any point in time to cease answering questions. He admitted that he was committing a felony by possessing a weapon in his vehicle in the Kings Island parking lot,” the judge said.
Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell has said his office found no evidence Grisham planned or attempted to abduct a child.
A conference with the court is set for Tuesday. Grisham, who has been in custody at the Warren County Jail since his arrest, is set to stand trial on the charges Thursday in Warren County Common Pleas Court. If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison.
