Christian university official arrested in gay sex sting

An Ohio man in a high place at a conservative Christian school is accused of soliciting sex in open air.

52-year-old Robert Williams, Chief Financial Officer of Cincinnati Christian University, was arrested with two others on Saturday, said to have “manually stimulated” an undercover police officer in Mount Airy Forest. He is charged with sexual imposition.

The university has placed Williams on administrative leave while officials “assess the facts of the case.”

“We are shocked and dismayed by the news of Robert Williams’ arrest,” said Cincinnati Christian University President David Faust in a statement. “This is a personal tragedy for him and for his family, and we lift them up in our prayers.”

Police stings targeting men who cruise men in places such as rest stops and public parks have been regarded as entrapment by activists, while hailed and encouraged by figures such as Fort Lauderdale, Florida mayor Jim Naugle, who proposed mechanical “robo-toilets” in public places to combat what he saw as an epidemic of gay men having public sex in the city’s parks. The call to “flush Naugle” became louder as what he called a public health campaign was criticized as anti-gay prejudice.

Sting operations have brought attention to figures such as outgoing U.S. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, who in August 2007 pled guilty to a charge related to soliciting sexual activity in a Minneapolis airport restroom, and former Florida lawmaker and McCain co-chair Bob Allen, said to have sought to perform fellatio on an undercover officer in exchange for cash at a public park in July 2007.

Ken Giles, part of a mass 2007 sex sting arrest, recently filed suit against the Johnson City, Tennessee police department after his name and address were published in the local newspaper as part of the sting, conducted at an area known as the “Man Cave” at Johnson City’s Winged Deer Park. The action taken by the police department was unprecedented; photographs of the suspects were also supplied. The suit charged that JCPD Chief John Lowry, who personally approved the release, violated federal equal protection law in seeking to cause the 40 suspects additional undue stress and humiliation along with endangering their jobs and relationships with family.

Giles, who contended he was at the park simply to use the bathroom, lost his job as a nurse for the Veterans’ Administration as a result of the publicity, and his wife suffered a major heart attack during his legal battle. “I don’t understand how the police department can release photos of one group and not any others,” he said. “I lost my livelihood because my arrest was treated differently.”