According to the indictment cited by Cleveland 19, the former law enforcement officer "is charged with committing anal penetration and with inappropriate sexual contact" for sexual assaults which Cleveland.com says occurred multiple times.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury charged Kannenberg with two counts of rape, two counts of gross sexual imposition, and two counts of kidnapping.
According to the indictment, three of the sexual assaults occurred at the hospital— while his young victim wore a hospital gown — where Kannenberg was visiting another patient, and another incident happened prior to that at a separate but unnamed location.
Joe Frolik, spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, told Cleveland.com that Kannenberg was not working for University Hospital at the time of those sexual assaults, but had been visiting another patient.
Frolik added that hospital personnel helped report the incidents to police.
The Free Thought Project tried to contact officials, however, neither Frolik nor the appropriate officials with Wayne County could be reached for comment Saturday.
"Patient safety is our highest priority. UH takes the safety of our patients very seriously," University Hospitals Spokeswoman Alicia Reale said, refusing to comment directly on the case in question. "We are continually refining and strengthening our protocols to maintain a safe environment for our patients and their families."
Inexplicably, Kannenberg, 34, who was arrested on July 12, has since been released pending arraignment on August 17.
With charges as explicitly, brutally violent in nature forcibly committed against such a young child in the further vulnerable position of being a hospital patient, Kannenberg's freedom until his next court date defies both reason and any possible sense of safety or justice for his victim.
In fact, one has to wonder whether Kannenberg's status as a former law enforcement officer played a role in his being able to roam freely until arraignment despite being charged with the rape of an innocent 7-year-old child.
Frolik stated Kannenberg left the Montville police department in 2015, and then served as a Wayne County probation officer from August 2015 until March this year.
Kannenberg's LinkedIn profile still lists him currently employed in the Wayne County Municipal Court as a Community Service Coordinator, and that he has been in law enforcement for four years in total.
No further details were available regarding the sexual assault that occurred prior to the multiple incidents at the hospital.
Police sexual misconduct is so common that more than 1,000 officers have had their licenses revoked in just the last six years for it — nearly half of them involve underage victims.
These incidents are not uncommon, especially when involving children who choose to be around police through the explorer program.
Last month, former Canterbury Police Chief John Laroche was charged with sexually assaulting a former member of the Boscawen Police Explorers. His alleged victim was a 16-year-old girl.
Lasy year, former Trumball police officer William Ruscoe began a drastically reduced 30-month prison sentence for handcuffing and raping a teenage girl in his home. His victim was an explorer.
Trever Blackwell, 30, was jailed in September 2014 for raping a 15-year-old girl while she was in the department's Explorer program.
Before that incident, several sex charges were filed against a former Irwindale police officer who allegedly molested a 14-year-old Explorer Scout.
The list goes on.
Reader Comments
His release pending trial is interesting. I'd be interested to learn of any pedophilic tendencies in the judge ordering that... maybe they share more in common than being simple red-blooded Americans?