MOUNT ORAB, Ohio — Anthony Rowlett struggled with mental illness and drug addiction for years, sleeping on park benches and in vacant houses, committing crimes that kept him in prison, jail or community-based corrections and therapy programs for much of his adult life, according to police and court records.
Rowlett could also be extremely violent.
In 2013, he attacked a woman, "punching and hitting her with unknown object knocking out 3 of victim's teeth," according to an affidavit. The victim also had a cut on her left cheek, a bloody nose and a black eye.
Rowlett pleaded guilty to felonious assault and received a sentence of five years in prison.
"At times it could be very scary because he would lash out," Jennifer Frank said. "And it would happen at the drop of a dime."
Frank said she was Rowlett's on-again, off-again girlfriend since 2009. She also had limited 'power of attorney' for him in 2019, according to a notarized POA document signed by Rowlett and Frank.
“He wanted to try to get himself right,” Frank said.
She said he hoped treatment at the minimum-security River City Correctional Center would help him turn around his life. But court records show he was discharged twice from the program during the last three years.
Frank said River City's overall environment and well-documented struggles with security — including recent escapes, violent incidents inside the facility and under-staffing in recent years made it harder for staff to help more challenging inmates like Rowlett complete the program.
"The facility is not doing what they're supposed to do," Frank said.
In July 2019, Rowlett was ordered to complete the 180-day residential program at River City. Three weeks into the program, Rowlett scratched another inmate with an ink pen and resisted staff trying to get him under control, according to a River City incident report.
That got him thrown out and sent to the Hamilton County Justice Center.
After his release from the Justice Center, Rowlett continued having run-ins with police and faced new charges, including aggravated arson for setting a fire in April 2021 that caused heavy damage to a Reading home.
Back in the Justice Center on the arson charge, Rowlett overdosed on drugs, was placed on suicide watch, fought with other inmates and corrections officers, and was placed in a restraint chair five times from Oct. 12, 2021 to Jan. 15, 2022, according to Hamilton County Sheriff's Office records.
On Jan. 20, Rowlett told a Hamilton County Deputy that he was "unable to receive a cellmate due to his psychological state," according to Sheriff's Office records.
Rowlett was once again ordered to complete River City's residential program on Feb. 8. Within his first five weeks in the program, Rowlett argued with other inmates, was found under the influence and had marijuana in his room, according to incident reports.
On May 11, after arguing with another inmate, Rowlett threatened to shoot employees in their faces if he saw them on the streets, according to a River City incident report.
Rowlett got physical with employees who fell on the ground with him trying to get Rowlett under control. He was discharged from the program for a second time and taken to jail, according to River City's report.
Five weeks after the Justice Center released Rowlett to a probation officer, the 39-year-old was found dead face down in a garden area at Roberts Academy on Cincinnati's west side.
“We all knew something like this was going to happen because of his drug issues from the past,” Frank said. "It hurts every day. I cry about it a lot."
River City’s executive director Scott McVey said he’s not allowed to discuss Rowlett’s treatment or medicine he may have received while at the facility.
In an email, McVey wrote, "The challenges to River City for significantly medically challenged residents is multi-fold. We are not funded to a level to have sufficient resources to continuously send residents to outside specialist or hospitals. The cost of medication can often be significant or the specific concern requires such treatment that they may not be able to complete the 6-month program."
Recent incidents — including a River City escapee shot and killed by a police officer during a standoff on July 11 — prompted Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters to recommend closing the facility.
"I think River City is a disaster," Deters said. "I think they better clean it up. People's lives are at risk because of it."
Scott McVey, who became River City's executive director in January, has declined the I-Team's repeated requests for an interview.
McVey has answered many of the I-Team's questions in a series of emailed responses.
"River City continues to review our practices, improve our facility security and increase our training for staff," McVey wrote. "Previously I addressed in interviews that we have made adjustments to improve our practices to be a better place and partner for our community and for the courts. We will continue to do so in order to try and prevent further incidents."
Recent violent inmate incidents at River City
Most of the inmates involved in violent incidents inside River City in 2022 were under Ohio Adult Parole Authority supervision, according to internal incident reports and other ODRC records.
- June 17 - Four alleged members of the prison gang Cincinnati White Boys were involved in incidents leading up an apparent retaliatory assault against one of the CWB members. An attachment to the Special Incident report described the alleged gang members as a serious "threat" to staff and other inmates. The alleged gang members and the inmate who punched one of them were discharged from River City and transferred to the Justice Center, according to the report. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records show several of the inmates were supervised by APA.
- Jan. 27 - An inmate told an employee he was "going to beat his a**." The inmate pushed the employee and took two swings at him, according to River City report. The inmate was discharged from River City and transferred to the Justice Center. ODRC records show the inmate was supervised by APA.
- Jan. 17 - An inmate grabbed an employee around the neck and was on top of him, according to the River City report. Four employees were required to get the inmate under control. ODRC records show the inmate was under APA supervision. The inmate was discharged from the program and transferred to the Justice Center.
Deters said incidents involving violence are even more concerning in River City.
While ODRC requires 'resident supervisors' at River City and other community-based correctional facilities (CBCFs) to get some corrections training, they aren't required to attend a law enforcement academy and be certified corrections officers.
"These people aren't trained to be corrections officers," Deters said. "And there's violent people in there."
In July, River City inmate rosters listed at least 20 individuals who had violated conditions of their parole or early release from prison after serving sentences for violent crimes that included felonious assault, aggravated assault, and aggravated robbery, according to court documents and ODRC records.
"DRC is just dumping their parole violators there," Deters said.
"APA may refer appropriate violators for community-based incarceration, however, APA cannot require a CBCF to take a parole/PRC violator," ODRC spokeswoman JoEllen Smith wrote in an emailed response to the I-Team's questions. "CBCFs have the discretion to decline these individuals if they choose."
APA is required to only "consider" returning a violator to prison if the "new violation involves weapons, physical harm or attempted serious physical harm to another person, or sexual misconduct," according to Smith.
McVey did not respond directly to questions about why River City admitted violent parole violators — including those not from the Cincinnati area — if the facility wasn't required to do so.
More on cases that brought Rowlett to River City
When Judge Elizabeth Callan sentenced Rowlett to community control for three years and ordered him to complete River City's residential program in July 2019, her judgment entry said "the court would impose a term of twelve (12) months in the Department of Corrections" if Rowlett violated conditions of his community control.
Rowlett violated the conditions of his sentence at River City, was discharged from the program and taken to jail. In a court hearing on Aug. 20, 2019, Callan told Rowlett his conduct in River City had been "outrageous."
A Hamilton County Asst. Prosecutor declined to recommend a sentence and deferred to the court.
Callan asked Rowlett if he wanted to say anything before she sentenced him.
"I'd like to apologize for letting my emotions get the better of me and pretty much being inconsiderate to the Court's judgment in the first place," Rowlett told her.
Based on the recommendation of the probation department, Callan did not send Rowlett to prison after all, according to a court transcript of the hearing.
Instead, Callan ordered Rowlett to be supervised under community control and complete treatment through Mental Health Access Point (MHAP).
"This is your last shot," Callan told Rowlett. "If you violate that, it's 12 months."
Callan — now the of counsel in Cincinnati for the law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP — did not respond to the I-Team's emails and a voicemail message requesting her comment on the case.
Eight months later, Jennifer Frank filed a criminal complaint with the Reading Police Departmentagainst Rowlett accusing him of assaulting her and threatening to kill her. The charge was dismissed for want of prosecution.
Reading Police Department records show officers responded to 24 incidents involving Rowlett from December 2018 to May 2021.
"He appeared to be capable to be a productive citizen," Reading Police Chief Bryan Edens said. "But there's nothing you can do to help that person until they are ready to accept it or reach out for it."
On Feb. 8, Judge Megan Shanahan sentenced Rowlett to five years of community control for attempted aggravated arson and required him to complete the same 180-day program at River City that he was discharged from in 2019.
Shanahan's judgment entry shows if Rowlett violated the conditions of his sentence, she would "impose a term of thirty-six (36) months in the Department of Corrections."
Rowlett violated the conditions of his community control when River City discharged him from their program and transferred him to jail. But Shanahan didn't send Rowlett to prison.
In a court hearing on May 16, Rowlett's attorney asked the judge to extend his community control and enter him into the Men's Extended Treatment Program for individuals who are incarcerated.
"I just appreciate that you guys are willing to work with me and everything," Rowlett told Shanahan, according to the transcript of the hearing.
However, according to an email the day after Shanahan's sentence, the Sheriff's Office noted that Rowlett was "not eligible" for the program because he was in "Max security."
In an email to the I-Team, Shanahan's bailiff Tim Noel wrote that Shanahan was unable to comment on the case because of judicial ethics.
On May 31, Sheriff's Office records show the Justice Center released Rowlett to a probation officer. Rowlett was required to report for a court-ordered treatment program, according to Hamilton County Sheriff's Office records.
Rowlett's body was found outside in the 1700 block of Grand Avenue on Cincinnati's west side on Aug. 5. The Hamilton County Coroner's Office is waiting for the results of a toxicology test to determine his official cause of death.
"It is tragic, but we all carry some responsibility for ourselves," Edens said. "In all these times, he's had contacts. He's had opportunities. But he's not alone. There's a lot of people like this."
According to a Cincinnati police report, Rowlett had no identification on his body. It took three days to notify his next-of-kin, who declined to comment on Rowlett's death.
"We had very good times," Frank said. "When he was sober and he wasn't on drugs, he had a bubbly personality. Very happy."
But she said those times with Rowlett never lasted.
Now, one month after his death, Frank said her heartache grows because she can't afford to pay for Rowlett's burial or cremation.
Rowlett may finally have found peace, but his body still rests at the Coroner’s Office awaiting what may be a 'pauper's' burial.
