TOLEDO, Ohio — WTOL 11 has been honored with a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for its investigation, “The Dark Side of Cedar Point.” The series that began in May, 2022, centered on the discovery of dozens of sexual-assault reports involving staff dorms at Cedar Point.
In the competition, WTOL competed against small to medium-sized stations in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. The entry won the Investigative Murrow, which will now be entered in the national competition against the winners of 13 other regions.
The Cedar Point investigation began with a local woman’s lawsuit against the amusement park. She claimed she had been raped in the employee dorms and that those dorms were dangerous and often unsupervised. When 11 Investigates asked for other sexual assault reports involving the dorms, it was discovered that 27 other reports were filed during a five-year period. Several of the victims told similar stories – dorms that were often out of control and unsupervised and efforts by the park to squash any negative incidents.
The 28 police reports were obtained from the Sandusky Police Department. The Cedar Point Police Department refused to turn over its own reports, claiming it was a private police department and not subject to public records law.
However, WTOL 11, along with sister stations WKYC in Cleveland and WBNS in Columbus filed a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court, asking the court to force the park to turn over its own reports. During pretrial motions, counsel for Cedar Fair, Cedar Point’s parent company, produced records that included 13 additional sexual assault reports. WTOL 11, however, has not dropped the lawsuit, believing there are additional reports and videos that have not been produced.
After the weeklong investigation, the city of Sandusky stripped the Cedar Point Police Department of its policing powers. All assault allegations are now investigated by the city’s police department, meaning a public records chain is now assured.
In the past 10 days, the investigation has also received Associated Press and National Headliner awards. It was previously named a Touchstone Award winner by the Press Club of Toledo.
WTOL’s 11 Investigates team will be hosting a phone bank from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
If you believe you have a tip on government corruption, criminal injustice, or consumer fraud, we would like to talk to you. You can reach a team member by calling 419-725-1600.
A tip from last July’s phone bank resulted in two significant Toledo housing investigations. In November, 11 Investigates reported that dozens of deceased residents were still being penalized for delinquent property taxes and also being prosecuted for nuisance properties. Several of those residents had been dead for more than a decade.
And in February, we reported on the severe issues involving the city’s fire escrow account. The account contains insurance money held for residents until they make repairs or demolish their fire-damaged homes. Multiple times during the past several years, the city has transferred money out of the account, declaring that residents had abandoned the money and stating that those residents could not be found. However, the 11 Investigates team continues to find property owners on the list, many who claim they had no idea the city was holding money for them.
More on WTOL: