The charges requested against Lee are disrupting public service, inducing panic, making false alarms and telecommunications harassment. Walters said in the filing that “the criminal charges are warranted for the violated statutes due to the fear, induced panic, recklessness, carelessness, and the financial burden that has impacted the community.”
Under Ohio law, a private citizen seeking to “cause an arrest or prosecution” can file an affidavit with “a reviewing official” — a judge, prosecuting attorney or magistrate — to have them review the facts and decide if a complaint should be filed. A similar affidavit was recently filed against Donald Trump and JD Vance.
In a ruling filed this week, the court found the charges against Lee to lack merit due to a lack of probable cause, it said.
The judges said they are not convinced Lee “actually made an allegation of fact,” with the post “clearly recounting reports that she had heard from other people and not making her own allegations.” The ruling said there is no “factual assertion” that Lee made up conversations she said she’d had with her neighbor, “rangers” and police.
According to the document, in a felony case, if the court questions good faith or probable cause, it will refer the case to the prosecutor for further investigation. Unless it issues a warrant for Lee’s arrest, the court must refer the case to the prosecutor.
On Sept. 5, Lee made a post in a local Facebook group with the title “Warning to all about our beloved pets and those around us,” claiming that a neighbor’s daughter’s friend had lost her cat and later found it hanging from a branch at a Haitian neighbor’s home, being carved up to be eaten.
Walters’ memorandum alleges that posting “a baseless claim recklessly without evidence that an action occurred ... caused fear, panic, and financial burden when others acted on the baseless claims, justifies an act of inducing panic.”
Lee’s post went viral, with the claims reaching former President Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance, who then amplified them. The Republican politicians are facing similar citizen-initiated charges by the Haitian Bridge Alliance, and that case was also referred to Clark County Prosecutor Dan Driscoll.
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