On June 24, 2020, a grand jury in Montgomery County, Ohio indicted 51-year-old Teaven Curtiss on charges of sexually molesting his granddaughter on two occasions between November 3, 2017, and October 30, 2018, when the child was 4 years old.
Curtiss was charged with one count of rape of a child under 10 years of age and one count of gross sexual imposition of a person less than 13 years of age.
Prior to his trial, his defense lawyer requested access to Montgomery County Child Services (MCCS) records relating to the child, who was identified as Kathy (a pseudonym), as well as records relating to her brother, identified as Kevin (also a pseudonym), and their mother, E.J. The trial judge reviewed the records, turned some of them over to the defense, and kept the entire record under seal.
In November 2020, the prosecution asked the judge to review more MCCS records, noting that during a pretrial hearing, E.J. said her children had been removed due to a domestic violence incident involving E.J.’s ex-boyfriend. As a result, more records were disclosed to the defense.
On December 7, 2020, Curtiss went to trial in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. After the jury had been selected, the judge granted a prosecution motion to prohibit the defense from introducing any evidence relating to disclosures by Kathy of being sexually abused by Curtiss’s son, J.C., who had been adjudicated a juvenile sex offender in a different county and was living with Curtiss when Kathy was in the home. The judge also granted a prosecution motion to bar the defense from introducing a caseworker’s opinion that Kathy’s brother, Kevin, had been coached to make accusations against Curtiss.
Kevin had been born in June 2012, and Kathy had been born in September 2013. Their father, K.C., another of Curtiss’s sons, was not involved in the family, but Curtiss was. When Kathy was about 2 years old, she and Kevin began staying every other weekend at the home of Curtiss and his wife, T.C. They took the children to the park, to the pool, and out to eat. They watched movies together and celebrated birthdays and holidays together.
According to the evidence, beginning in July 2017, MCCS opened an investigation because of concerns that E.J. was being physically abused by D.H., with whom she had had a daughter, Laura.
As a result, Kathy, Kevin, and Laura were placed in foster care in August 2017. Kathy went to live with Curtiss and his wife, T.C. in their home. Laura went to live with E.J.’s father and stepmother. Kevin was placed in an orphanage until December 15, 2017, when he went to live with Curtiss and T.C. as well.
That same month, E.J. gave birth to her fourth child, David, whose father, D.H., had been the subject of the domestic violence incident in July 2017.
E.J. was given visitation once a week with Kathy, Kevin, and Laura, which took place at the child services agency. Eventually, E.J. was allowed to have visits with Kevin and Kathy at her home. In late July 2018, she had her first overnight visit with Kevin and Kathy at her home. The children arrived late Saturday evening, and E.J. was supposed to take them back to Curtiss’s house on Sunday at 6 p.m.
E.J. told the jury that she bathed Kevin and then Kathy in preparation to return them to Curtiss. While she was drying off Kathy, she noticed blood dripping down Kathy’s inner thigh, coming from Kathy’s vagina. E.J. testified that she asked Kathy what happened, but Kathy was “screaming and hollering” as if in pain. Kathy resisted E.J.’s attempt to inspect her, and when E.J. asked Kathy about it, Kevin appeared at the door and said, “Pawpaw Teaven did that. Pawpaw Teaven did that.”
At that point, E.J. said, Kathy said they were not supposed to talk about it because they would get into trouble. Although Kathy still resisted speaking about it, the following day, she told E.J. that Curtiss had been touching her.
E.J. did not return the children to Curtiss. She left a voice message for her case worker, Lisa Brown. E.J. said she told her mother about it. Because she had a medical appointment with a pediatrician, Dr. Sylvia Parks, scheduled for the next day, July 25, for Kevin to adjust his medication, E.J. said she decided to take Kathy with her. During the visit, E.J. did not tell Dr. Parks what Kathy had said because she did not have custody of the children and was not supposed to take them to the doctor.
Dr. Parks testified that at the appointment, E.J. said that Kathy had been scratching her genitals and asked her to take a look. She said she took a visual look and observed some abrasions, but no signs of bleeding. Because Dr. Parks did not know about the sexual assault allegation, she did nothing further. She said she told E.J. the condition could be normal and to apply some Vaseline so the skin could heal. Dr. Parks said the abrasion could be caused by a number of things, including scratching, inserting foreign objects during bath time play, a lot of wiping or inadequate wiping after potty training, or someone else touching or putting objects in there. Dr. Parks said E.J. thought one of the causes might be a yeast infection.
The next day, E.J. followed up her telephone message with an email to Brown, which said in part that Kathy had reported being touched by Curtiss and that she wanted to “get it looked into.” E.J. said in the email, “I did ask Dr. Parks about it yesterday, and…she said it looks like it has possibly been rubbed on too hard…and how bleeding is my biggest concern is the safety of her obviously and to make sure she’s not being touched inappropriately by anybody.”
E.J. said she had been in court regarding a child support issue and that she had been advised by the magistrate to file for emergency custody. She said that if Brown did not get back to her, she would call the abuse hotline. E.J. did not call the next day. She testified that eventually she did, but could not get anywhere with her caseworker or anyone else.
Evidence showed that the following day, however, Brown called Dr. Parks who said there had been no discussion about any type of child abuse.
According to the evidence, E.J. regained custody of the children at a hearing in August 2018, and Curtiss was given visitation rights on alternating weekends.
The prosecution presented evidence that at the beginning of the fall school year, Kathy attended a preschool and was referred to a mental health therapist due to behavior issues. During an interview with E. J., the therapist learned about the sexual abuse claim and made a mandated report to the abuse hotline.
A detective was assigned, and Melissa Lowe, an MCCS employee at the CARE House, received a sexual abuse referral on October 12, 2018, after E.J. had regained custody of the children. Lowe arranged for a forensic interview with Kathy on October 30, 2018, during which Kathy said Curtiss had touched her vagina with his hand and with a “blue thing and a white thing” that was “like a stick.” She said he had “three fingers down and one up.” She said that he had touched her, it hurt, and she had bled.
A pediatric nurse practitioner specializing in child abuse examined Kathy and said she found nothing abnormal. During the examination, Kathy said that Curtiss had touched her and that it hurt.
A forensic interview with Kevin was conducted on October 30, 2018. Although Kevin was not called as a witness, the judge allowed Kevin’s forensic interview to be played for the jury. During the interview, Kevin said he had seen Curtiss touch Kathy’s vagina with his hand and make it bleed, and that this occurred on more than one occasion.
Detective Joshua Spears, who worked at the CARE House, testified that he spoke to Brown, the caseworker, about her failure to pursue the initial email from E.J. The detective testified that on November 18, 2018, after learning that Curtiss was having visitation with the children, he told E.J. to refuse to allow this and contacted prosecutors to try to end visitation.
Spears testified that on December 6, he executed a search warrant at Curtiss’s home in Dayton, Ohio. Curtiss had moved out six months earlier. Spears said he found a hand towel and a baby blanket between the box springs and mattress in the master bedroom. He said he also found a pink finger dildo in a package with other sexual objects in a bedroom closet. He said he showed Kathy photographs taken during the search. When she saw the photo of the hand towel and blanket, she stopped smiling, froze up, and then ran from the room, he said. She also reacted to the photo of the finger dildo, saying it looked like the blue thing, the detective said.
The defense noted that Brown’s supervisor had filed a report concerning a home visit with E.J. on January 14, 2019. At that meeting, E.J. said “the detective is mad because the kids had visits with Teaven after the original allegations.” In the report, the supervisor said she reminded E.J. that a different caseworker manager had spoken to E.J. immediately after her initial email to Brown, and at that time, E.J. had “denied having any concerns regarding the children being sexually abused by Teaven.”
In the report, the supervisor also noted that E.J. had reported that Curtiss put Vaseline on Kathy because of her scratching and that E.J. was not concerned that it was sexual abuse.
On December 11, 2020, the jury convicted Curtiss of both charges. He was sentenced to life in prison.
On January 21, 2022, the Court of Appeals for the Second Appellate District reversed the convictions and ordered a new trial. The court said that it had reviewed all of the evidence that had been examined by the trial judge and had not been seen by the defense, even during the appeal.
The appeals court ruled that the judge had failed to disclose some documents that the defense could have used to impeach E.J. The court said that “the records here indicated that [E.J.] (the primary witness) had a history of making inconsistent statements, making apparently false accusations, accusing MCCS caseworkers and hospital employees of lying, threatening lawsuits against both MCCS and hospital personnel, manipulating staff and law enforcement, and triggering others to obtain negative responses that worked on her behalf.”
The appeals court noted that the trial court had barred the defense from questioning E.J. about certain reports of violence, stating that she was “not on trial” for every act of her life, and that the defense could not “discuss every issue in a person’s life to establish an issue of credibility.”
“While we agree in part with this statement, [E.J.] was a primary prosecution witness, and her credibility and knowledge of events pertaining to violence witnessed by the children was critical to the case. In fact, during closing, the State relied heavily on a mother’s credibility and lack of motivation to lie about the sexual abuse.”
The court said that when E.J. made the initial accusations, she did not have her children. Curtiss had temporary custody, and even though MCCS intended to return the children in a few months, the agency still retained protective supervision. This evidence could have been used to suggest that E.J. had fabricated the allegations in an attempt to regain her children.
“If the evidence had been disclosed, [E.J.’s] testimony may have been disbelieved and material evidence relevant to the defense presented,” the appeals court ruled. “There is a reasonable probability that the result would have been different.”
The court also said records were not disclosed concerning Detective Spears’s comments to E.J. about “the fact that the children were not disclosing enough and needed to be brought to CARE House to build his case. Either [E.J.] was being truthful about these statements or she was not. If she was not being truthful, that reflects on her credibility. If [E.J.’s] statements were true, they could have been used to attack the detective’s credibility.”
The appeals court noted that the defense, which contended that E.J. had fabricated the allegations, had coached Kathy, and was motivated to lie to get her children back, had argued that the trial judge had unfairly restricted its cross-examination of E.J.
The court said, “As indicated, [E.J.’s] testimony was confusing and appeared deliberately obtuse…We agree that [E.J.] was not on trial, but the defense should have been able to clarify what [she] said to pursue relevant evidence supporting the defense that coincided with impeachment.”
The
appeals court also addressed a defense argument that the prosecution had
allowed Melissa Lowe, the MCCS worker at CARE House, to testify to a false
statement. During Lowe’s testimony, she was asked about a meeting Brown, E.J.’s
caseworker, had with E.J. and the children. Lowe said that both Kathy and Kevin
had mentioned the sexual abuse. However, the report showed that only Kevin had
made the sexual abuse claim, not Kathy. “Admittedly, defense counsel could have
asked to see it when the State used [it] during Lowe’s testimony,” the court
said. “However, defense counsel had no reason to expect that the State would
misrepresent the information being presented.”
The appeals court said, “Lowe was asked to and did review the pertinent section of the note before answering the State’s question. Therefore, both Lowe and counsel for the prosecution should have been aware of the inaccuracy of Lowe’s testimony. The statement was not true.”
“This conduct is troubling,” the appeals court said.
On September 2, 2022, Curtiss was released pending a retrial. On November 21, 2023, the prosecution dismissed the case.
In April 2024, Curtiss filed a lawsuit seeking to be declared a “wrongly imprisoned individual” so that he could seek compensation from the state. In August 2025, a judge entered a judgment declaring Curtiss to be “a wrongly imprisoned individual.”
His compensation claim was then filed with the Ohio Court of Claims. The claim was granted in January 2026, and Curtiss was awarded $54,000.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 01-20-2026
