Documents: Huron County investigation led to Elyria man's arrest on child sex abuse charges

A child welfare investigation in Huron County led to felony sexual abuse charges against an Elyria man, according to investigative documents obtained by The Chronicle-Telegram. Eugene Arroyo, 61, of Massachusetts Avenue, was being held in the Lorain County Jail on $100,000 bond on five counts of rape and two counts of gross sexual imposition, all felonies, according to jail and court records. Indicted Dec. 6 and arrested Wednesday, Arroyo has not yet been arraigned, does not yet appear to have an attorney and his case has not been assigned to a judge. A message seeking comment on the case was left Friday with the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. A heavily redacted police investigative report, released by Elyria police through the Elyria Law Department, laid out some of what detectives learned during their investigation. Elyria police and Lorain County Children Services became involved June 20 after Huron County Children Services investigated a report of child sexual abuse in Norwalk that led investigators to a second possible victim in Elyria. The alleged victim was interviewed at the Nord Center on June 25 and told the interviewer that Arroyo touched her inappropriately "a lot," including the day before the interview. Arroyo also allegedly took inappropriate pictures of the child, who reported that Arroyo "doesn't want (the alleged victim to) tell anyone about the thing he does or he will yell." Following the child's interview, Arroyo acted "extremely nervous, made excited utterances that he knew 'this' was coming and asked if he was going to jail" when asked to speak with detectives, according to the report. Arroyo had not yet been told that the alleged victim had disclosed alleged abuse when he "stated he knew this was coming because he knew the 'lies' were coming out," the detective wrote. In the interview, Arroyo said the Huron County case that led to the Elyria police investigation arose out of a custody dispute among his family in Norwalk. He denied abusing anyone, denied taking any inappropriate photos and gave consent for his DNA to be collected and his home to be searched. That same day, detectives got a search warrant from Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Miraldi, and searched Arroyo's trailer on Massachusetts Avenue. A Polaroid camera and cellphones were seized, including a flip phone that allegedly had a pornographic video of the victim on it taken in May, according to the investigative report. Arroyo first denied knowing whose phone it was, then admitted the flip phone was his old phone. Police also seized multiple other cellphones, none of which contained any evidence. A detective then interviewed Eugene Arroyo's wife, LeighAnn Arroyo, on Sept. 12. LeighAnn Arroyo is a former candidate for Elyria City Council. She was "very closed off an(d) uncooperative with the investigation" despite not being a suspect and being asked to give a voluntary interview, a detective wrote. In a second interview Oct. 16 at the Elyria Police Department, LeighAnn Arroyo told detectives she never saw her husband abuse anyone. She showed "zero emotions" after being allowed to view some of the alleged evidence against her husband, a detective wrote.