CLEVELAND — A Cuyahoga County corrections officer has been indicted on felony harassment charges, officials confirmed Wednesday.
According to a release from County Press Secretary Jennifer Ciaccia, 25-year-old Officer Austin Casto was arrested on the same day a grand jury indicted him. While details of the charges are not known, court records show he faces five counts of harassment by inmate.
Here is how the Ohio Revised Code describes what Casto is accused of:
"No person who is confined in a detention facility, with intent to harass, annoy, threaten, or alarm another person, shall cause or attempt to cause the other person to come into contact with blood, semen, urine, feces, or another bodily substance by throwing the bodily substance at the other person, by expelling the bodily substance upon the other person, or in any other manner."
Ciaccia says Casto, a resident of Parma, is currently employed at the Cuyahoga County Jail. The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department has apparently been investigating his alleged behavior, resulting in the eventual filing of criminal charges.
A copy of the indictment against Casto was not immediately available for viewing. However, records did show a co-defendant named Romelle Smith, who is currently serving an 18 to 21-year sentence at the Lorain Correctional Institution for aggravated robbery. He had been in the Cuyahoga County Jail at points in 2022 and '23 prior to sentencing, and now faces the same charges as Casto.
Casto is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, while Smith will have his arraignment on Monday.
Per the county, Casto has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the case.
