ATHENS, Ohio — An Athens County jury ordered former Ohio University police officer Robert Andrew Parsons on Wednesday to pay Alison Arocho over $768,000 in damages for the sexual abuse he committed in 2005, when she was 15.
“I feel like finally justice is served — better late than never,” Arocho told the Independent. “He’s finally held accountable.”
Arocho’s attorney, Michael Fradin, said, “Ali deserves this, and every penny and more.”
Parsons was also ordered to pay Arocho’s attorney fees in her lawsuit against him.
Judge John T. Wallace, presiding over the case by assignment in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas, previously found Parsons liable on summary judgment for Arocho’s battery claim. He also found Parsons had civil liability resulting from his unlawful sexual contact with a minor, the criminal charge to which he previously pleaded no contest.
Parsons told the Independent he is considering appealing Wallace’s decision on his liability.
Parsons was sentenced to six months in the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail in 2007, after he pleaded no contest to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Arocho has alleged that Parsons raped her as many as 100 times from 2005 to 2006, beginning when she was 15. Parsons said he had sex with Arocho three times while she was a child.
Arocho has said Parsons almost always got her intoxicated before raping her, which Parsons has denied. Further, Arocho has said Parsons used his authority as a police officer to intimidate her and her family into complying with his wishes.
At the jury trial in Athens County Court of Common Pleas this week, Arocho sought to demonstrate the extent to which her life was affected by the abuse she suffered at 15.
Kenneth J. Manges, a forensic psychologist, testified that he evaluated Arocho and diagnosed her with depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. He said Arocho exhibited PTSD symptoms consistent with those of other sexual abuse survivors with whom he has worked, and said he believes Parsons’s abuse contributed to the challenges Arocho has faced.
Manges said he expects Arocho will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder for the rest of her life.
“I believe that her post traumatic stress disorder, given the length of time that she’s had it, will be lifelong,” Manges said. “It may not be at the same level that it was originally, but it will continue for the remainder of her life.”
Arocho’s husband testified about the ongoing impact of her post-traumatic stress on their relationship and family. Meanwhile, her mother testified that, after Parsons’ abuse, Arocho “went from being what you would consider a very normal young girl with lots of friends and lots of social activities and being very active and bright and happy to basically just being a shell.”
Parsons, who represented himself at trial, questioned Manges extensively about Arocho’s medical history and Manges’s evaluation. He pointed to notes from other evaluations of Arocho which mentioned other problems in her life.
In his closing statement, Parsons said, “There’s so many factors in this case.” He said the issues Arocho has faced in her life since the abuse “did not involve” the “encounters” he had with her.
Parsons told the jury in his closing argument, “Although it was not consensual by law, our meetings were mutual.” He said there was “no coercion,” and he pointed to Arocho’s statement from several years prior, included in evidence, that she was “promiscuous” in middle and high school.
(Parsons has also previously taken issue with the Independent describing his unlawful sexual contact with Arocho as “abuse.”)
Arocho was 15 and Parsons was 37 in 2005, when the abuse occurred, according to testimony at trial.
“It took me so long to realize this was not a relationship, this was rape,” Arocho told the Independent. “He wanted to argue with me that I, at the time, for so many years, said that this was consensual, when I didn’t even really know what that was at that time.”
Parsons asked the jury not to award any punitive or compensatory damages to Arocho.
Because Parsons was representing himself, he also questioned Arocho directly at trial.
“For him to argue with me on every single detail — I broke down like I did when I was 15,” Arocho told the Independent. “It was an emotional attack.”
In his closing argument, Fradin’s co-counsel Jon Little referenced Parsons’s cross-examination of Arocho. “He’s still inflicting pain and he’s still not taking responsibility,” Little said.
Parsons initially denied having had any sexual contact with Arocho. He first admitted having had such contact with Arocho in November 2022 during the course of a related case, he said at trial.
Parsons argued his testimony is now reliable, however.
“Did I lie in 2005? I absolutely did lie in 2005,” Parsons said in his closing statement. “I lied to save my job and to save my reputation. … I absolutely have nothing to lie about now.”
Regardless of many ongoing factual disputes between Parsons and Arocho, Little said the jury should consider the many years Parsons lied about his conduct with Arocho in its decision to award damages.
“It makes you feel like you’re crazy,” Little said in his closing statement. “You were there, he was there, and he’s denied it for 17 years despite being criminally convicted — just denials all the way through.”
Of the damages the jury awarded, $500,000 is in punitive damages — punishing Parsons for his actions — while the remainder is compensatory, addressing the toll of the abuse on Arocho’s life.
“You’ve got to take care of the 15-year-old all the way up to the present and the future,” Little said in his closing statement.
He added it is also important “to send a message to all those in uniform that if they abuse the massive responsibilities we give them, if they abuse the trust we place in them, that there will be recompense.”
Arocho initially pursued additional claims in the case. Her attorneys moved to dismiss the additional claims at the jury trial, leaving only the claims on which Wallace already determined liability.
Arocho’s appeal in a related case claiming OU is also liable for her abuse remains pending in the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals. Michael Fradin, Arocho’s attorney, said admissions Parsons made at trial could impact that appeal.
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