Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office

Investigation Unit
Supplemental Report

Case# 2021 CR 0002

Defendant: Anthony Cutcher

Date: January 25, 2021

Investigator: Kerry Smoot

On January 12, 2021, I was informed that the Chancellor, Father Steve Angi from the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati was concerned about a priest having communications with a
minor. Fr. Angi informed our office that Father Anthony Cutcher from St. Peter’s
Catholic Church had been texting a minor (CP). This was advised as a violation of
church policy but not necessarily illegal; however, Fr. Cutcher had a prior allegation of
looking at child pornography that were unfounded. Given the prior allegation and the
text with CP, an investigation was conducted to determine if any illegal activity had
occurred between Fr. Cutcher and CP.

After being made aware of the circumstances, we contacted CP’s parents and planned
an interview with CP. CP and his parents came to our office for that interview that same
day. Investigator Dillon and I conducted the interview with CP while his parents were
present. We explained the complaint regarding CP. His parents advised that there had
been a prior issue with Fr. Cutcher and CP. One of the teachers advised the principal of
St. Peter’s School, Ron Albino, that CP would stop and visit Fr. Cutcher during school
after an extra duty assignment. This would cause CP to come to class late and the
teacher was concerned with the visit. The school had fixed this issue and addressed it
with Fr. Cutcher by not having CP stop by during school hours.

CP explained that he had gone to St. Peter’s for church/school and knew Fr. Cutcher
from there. CP continued, advising that he had taken part in extra duties at the church
and school which increased his interaction with Fr. Cutcher. They developed a
friendship over time and started to send text messages to each other on a regular basis.
The texting was usually regarding church, school and other daily things like sports/social
topics. CP’s parents had in their possession CP’s phone. They handed the phone over
and gave permission to look at the text between CP and Fr. Cutcher. The text on CP’s
phone were from November 12, 2020, thru January 4, 2021.

I reviewed the texts and noted several texts that were odd and out of the norm for an
adult to send to a minor, let alone a priest sending them to a student/parishioner. I had
CP’s parents review the texts and they had the same conclusion as I did. There were no
texts that were sexual in nature or any pictures shared that were sexual. There was a
picture of candy that we asked CP about. CP explained that Fr. Cutcher knew what his
favorite candy was. Fr. Cutcher would give him that type of candy at school and would
also come to their home to visit the family bringing CP’s favorite candy.

During the interview, we had CP’s parents step outside. Investigator Dillon and I spoke
with CP alone. We asked about any behavior from Fr. Cutcher that would have made
him feel uncomfortable. CP advised that there was no such behavior. In further
conversation with CP, he denied that Fr. Cutcher had sent any text in a sexual nature or
any nude images. CP also advised that Fr. Cutcher never touched him inappropriately.

After speaking with CP, Investigator Dillon escorted him out to the lobby and continued
to speak with him. I met with the parents further where we discussed our concerns.
They were provided information on our investigation and advised the steps if there were
a future disclosure.

On January 13, 2021, Investigator Dillon and I went to St Peter’s Church in order to
speak with Fr. Cutcher. Upon our arrival, Fr. Angi called and advised that Principal Ron
Albino, had killed himself the night before. Albino had committed suicide with a firearm
at Charleston Falls Preserve in Miami County. We met with office manager, Darren
Backstrom, while at the school. Backstrom advised that Cutcher was removed on
January 11, 2021, from the property and at that time he was placed on suspension.
Cutcher who normally resided on the church grounds, in the rectory, had to leave and
was not allowed to contact staff or parishioners. Backstrom told us that he had no idea
where Cutcher was and the church did not find him other lodging. In speaking with
Backstrom, he did confirm he authored a statement that Fr. Angi provided to our office.
Backstrom had no new information other than what was detailed in his statement.

Later in the day, Investigator Dillon responded to a previously set meeting at the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati where he met Fr. Angi and Fr. Cutcher. When speaking with
Fr. Cutcher, Investigator Dillon was able to get permission to look through Fr. Cutcher’s
cell phone. While doing so, Investigator Dillon reviewed the text communications
between Fr. Cutcher and CP. He did not observe any illegal text in their conversation.
Fr. Cutcher stated to Investigator Dillon he did not believe he violated Church Policy,
because he informed others he was communicating with CP via text message.

On January 14, 2021, Fr. Cutcher came to our office to turn his phone over to us for a
search. Fr. Cutcher was presented with a search consent form and signed it. He
allowed us to download his cell phone in his presence. I connected the phone to my
computer and using Oxygen Forensic software, I made an Apple back-up image of his
phone. The forensic report of the image is with the case file.

While the cell phone was being imaged, Investigator Dillon and I spoke with Fr. Cutcher.
Fr. Cutcher told us that he was close with CP. CP had taken an interest in many
activities around the church and school. He explained that CP also expressed interest in
a career with the church. He explained that his interest in CP was in attempt to recruit
CP into the priesthood. Fr. Cutcher boasted that he was a top recruiter for the church.
He also advised us that CP’s parents were aware of the texting and that he had been
over to their home numerous times. He explained that CP would visit him at school to
get candy in the office. He claimed that we had nothing to worry about regarding
inappropriate behavior with CP.

As we had casual conversation with Fr. Cutcher, we inquired about the priesthood. He
told us a story that when he started out, that he went to a domestic violence shelter
where women and children would stay. The purpose of the visit was to play with the
children to provide a positive male influence. During one of the visits, they were able to
take the older children out of the home. He took one to what seemed to be an arcade
that had games and pool tables. He told us that the boy he took was 11-years-old.

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While playing pool, the 11-year-old boy started to hit on him. Fr. Cutcher advised that he
had to stop this advancement and took the boy back to the home. He further advised
that young boys hitting on priest in the church is a real problem that happens often.

Upon concluding our interview, I started my examination of the cell phone extraction.
The cell phone was an Apple iPhone 8 that had an associated phone number of 419-
953-7131 and serial number F4GWTMCFJC6F. During the examination, I reviewed the
contents of the phone and marked 41 items of interest as key evidence in the report. I
also exported the text conversation he had with CP. Items marked of interest were a
history of website traffic/bookmarks of gay porn. Some of the titles of the websites
visited had teen, boys, son and young in them. A review of the websites was conducted,
some of the websites were no longer valid and the others depicting adult pornography.

Several other items marked were text messages that Fr. Cutcher sent to other persons
where he acknowledged his texting of CP and that it was a gray area regarding the
church’s rules. The text chat between CP and Fr. Cutcher exported into the report
showed from September 17, 2020, to January 4, 2021. Again, no text of a sexual nature
where seen; however, several communications were noted that appeared to be
inappropriate given their student/teacher relationship.

One item of interest that was missing from the phone were communications with Albino.
Given that the complaint came from a staff member within the school who then filed it
with Albino, who in return should have filed the complaint with the Archdiocese,
communications between the two could have provided possible insight into Fr. Cutcher’s
activities.

On January 19, 2021, Investigator Dillon and I interviewed Albino’s wife, Kathleen Albino
at her home. We explained the reason of our visit. She expressed that she was aware
of the whole situation as her husband kept her informed. Her opinion was that this was
all over blown by the complaining staff member, Andrew Larochelle. She though that
Larochelle was upset at her husband because Larochelle’s hours were cut and her
husband was the one who made that decision. She further explained that her husband
was going to handle the complaint internally and that Larochelle wanted to go over his
head straight to the Archdiocese. Larochelle had called her husband one night telling
him that was what he was going to do. That call was on January 8, 2021. Kathleen
handed over her husband’s phone and gave permission for us to look at it. After that
call, Albino sent a text to Fr. Cutcher asking to see to him. Albino then left the home to
go see Fr. Cutcher.

I continued to look through Albino’s phone while speak with Kathleen. The phone had
minimal application installed and not much texting activity. I reviewed the text between
Albino and Fr. Cutcher to see if there was any information about the complaint. There
was none, and they had not had a lot of communications over text. I looked through the
rest of the phone and did not discover any other useful information.

Kathleen explained that she knew CP and the family. She felt that Fr. Cutcher would not
have done anything to CP or anyone else. She advised that she has all the respect for
Fr. Cutcher and that she wished he could preside over Albino’s services. She confided
to us that she had no idea why Albino took his own life. He did not have issues that he
relayed to her.

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Later that day, I interviewed Larochelle. He advised that he authored a statement that
detailed a timeline of the complaint and complaint process in which Fr. Angi provided to
us. In addition to the information on his statement, Larochelle advised that he never saw
any text between CP and Fr. Cutcher. Fr. Cutcher brought up that he was texting CP in
2019. At that time Larochelle spoke to Backstrom and Albino about the
inappropriateness of Fr. Cutcher texting a minor. Then on December 16, 2020, during
lunch Fr. Cutcher mentioned CP and directed his attention to his phone to indicate that
he was texting him still. Larochelle was concerned that Fr. Cutcher was still texting CP
and felt that should not be happening. He made Backstrom and Albino aware of the
texting and felt that they would not forward the complaint to the Archdiocese or stop the
behavior. Larochelle spoke to a private attorney to see what he could do and if he was
protected from retaliation if he complained to the Archdiocese directly. After that
consultation, he informed Albino that he was going to forward the complaint to the
Archdiocese. As in his statement, on January 8th, 2021, things became accelerated due
to Albino disclosing more information to Fr. Cutcher. Larochelle met with Fr. Chris
where the formal complaint then proceeded to the Archdiocese.

During the interview, Larochelle was calm and was not upset. His demeanor did not
seem to be that he was vindictive against Albino or the school.

On January 20, 2021, Investigator Dillon and I met with Fr. Cutcher regarding getting
permission to search other devices he owned. The phone extraction showed evidence
that the phone had been associated with an iPad and an iMac. When we met with Fr.
Cutcher, he advised that we had permission to search those devices but they were at his
residence on the church grounds. He contacted the church office and advised to let us
into his home to get those items. We also questioned why he deleted the text he had
with Albino. He claimed that he deletes texts with people all the time and regularly. He
only keeps ones that he flags.

We responded to the church and went to the main office. The main office also housed
Fr. Cutcher’s work office. The work office was a closed off office with a full head to toe
window next to the door. The window was partially obstructed by a plant but you could
see into the office. The office door was near a secretary’s station and visible from the
main door leading into the reception area. Inside the office, there was a couch set off to
the right side which sat across from a desk. The office staff then escorted us to Fr.
Cutcher’s home office where the devices were located. We took possession of the
devices. The iMac was taken to Det. Kellar from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office
for imaging. I retained the iPad. I later made an Apple back-up image of the iPad using
Oxygen Forensic software. The data from that image had no new information and was
nearly the same as the iPhone that was previously imaged.

On January 25, 2021, Det, Kellar advised that he had concluded his imaging of the iMac.
He provided me with that image and using Magnet Axiom, I went through the computer
image. Again, similar information was located on the iMac as the phone; however,
several text threads had more data. I extracted text threads that Fr. Cutcher had with
CP and Albino. The iMac had text with Albino that dated back to April 21, 2018 to
January 8, 2021. It had messages with CP from April 11, 2020, to January 4, 2021.
Both those threads are in the case file for review.

On January 25, 2021, I spoke with Albino’s mother, Joann Albino. She last spoke with
Albino for about an hour prior to his death. They spoke about normal issues and topics.

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He did not elude to any issues and seemed to be fine when they talked. She further
advised that he seemed to be doing well and was surprised at what had happened. She
knew of no issues or did he express any to her that would explain what he did.

Investigator Dillon and I interviewed two teachers that CP had. One of the teachers had
made a complaint about CP missing class time due to CP visiting Fr. Cutcher. CP took
part in extra duties while at school and when completing those duties, he would stop in
Fr. Cutcher’s office. When the teacher asked Fr. Cutcher about the this, he told her that
he liked seeing CP and wanted her to keep sending him and allow him to take part in the
extra duties. She confided with another teacher about the issue and the conversation.
Her co-worker advised to make a complaint to stop the visits. She made the complaint
and CP was not able to visit with Fr. Cutcher after that complaint. She advised that all
happened around December of 2019.

The teachers advised that CP’s behavior was great in class. He was always active and
held good grades. They saw no change in his behavior after the visits to Fr. Cutcher.
One teacher thought CP could be vulnerable to any possible advancements Fr. Cutcher
could have made with the other not believing so. Also, it was advised that Fr. Cutcher
was extremely fond of the boys in eighth grade. It was explained that he seemed to wait
to have in interest in the boys at the school until they were in eighth grade.

At this time there is nothing further.

Respectfully submitted,
KERRY SMOOT
Investigator