A Cleveland police sergeant, already charged with soliciting prostitutes, is now accused of using a police database to find out information about two women and accessing city computers to message thousands more while on the clock, according to court documents.
Michael Rybarczyk, 58, was arrested by his own colleagues and charged with three counts of unauthorized use of property, according to an indictment filed in Cuyahoga County on Monday.
Rybarczyk "accessed the law enforcement automated database system (LEADS) without the express or implied consent of system management" to view personal information and pictures of the two women while employed with the police department, the indictment said.
The "information was not part of any official law enforcement investigation or inquiry," the indictment said.
Rybarczyk also used Cleveland city computers to send "non-work related" social media messages to 2,300 women while on duty between June 2018 and January 2019.
The charges stem from an investigation by police and prosecutors that began after he was charged in February with 11 counts of soliciting prostitutes, according to a statement from Cleveland Police Chief Calvin D. Williams.
The women whom Rybarczyk solicited were between the ages of 18 and 28, according to a criminal complaint.
The 29-year Cleveland Police Department veteran was first put on restricted duty while the prostitution charges were under investigation, but Williams announced Rybarczyk was suspended without pay in the wake of the unauthorized use of property charges, which are felonies.
Rybarczyk has pleaded not guilty to the prostitution charges, according to court documents. He is set to be arraigned on the unauthorized use of property charges April 1. No lawyer is listed for him in either case.
