Women Are Warning Each Other That Brock Turner Is Out and About in Ohio

Brock Turner, the former Stanford student who was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2016, seems to be leading a fairly average life for a 27-year-old Ohio resident. He’s gainfully employed, appears to maintain a home in Dayton, and according to social media posts, enjoys an active social life. However, those posts aren’t innocent accounts of a night out. They’re warnings that are currently reverberating even beyond the state Turner has lived in since he was released from prison.

“Brock Turner has apparently moved back to OH, specifically the Kettering/Oakwood area & has been frequenting local bars,” reads a Facebook post from Casey Laroo, who does not live in Ohio but received the information from a friend who does, and did some Googling to confirm whether how likely it was. “If you see him out, inform the bartenders who he is, inform the women in the bar who he is, do not let anyone intoxicated walk away with him alone.”

Laroo told Jezebel via Facebook message that she posted the warning on behalf of her friends that live in the state.

“The criminal justice system has proven that crimes against women don’t matter, therefore we don’t matter,” Laroo wrote. “Women are forced to stick together and help each other out because if we don’t do it, no one else will.”

Her post has been shared over 18,000 times and amassed over a thousand comments, but Laroo isn’t the only woman sounding the alarm about Turner’s whereabouts in the Dayton area. Vice reported on scores of similarly worded disclaimers emerging on Facebook and TikTok.

“He has allegedly been stopped from leaving bars…with heavily intoxicated young ladies. He is also [allegedly living] 10 minutes from [University of Dayton] student housing,” reads another Facebook post, “so UD ladies you especially need to stay vigilant especially since we know has assaulted college aged women before and he views intoxication and loss of consciousness as an invitation for sexual assault.”

Short of staking out bars in Dayton, there’s no real way to verify Turner’s patronage. In 2019, Turner was reportedly living with his parents in the neighborhood of Bellbrook, but now, the Ohio registry for sex offenders indicates he lives in a two-bedroom home in Oakwood. A listing for the home, which is a little over two miles from the University of Dayton, states it was purchased in December 2021.

Turner was mandated to register as a Tier III sex offender (the highest offense) after being charged with three felonies—assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person; penetration of an intoxicated person with a foreign object; and penetration of an unconscious person with a foreign object—for which he was sentenced to just six months in prison. In a letter to the judge, Turner’s father infamously wrote that his son’s punishment was a “steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.” Several others, including an ex-girlfriend, also vouched for Turner. At the sentencing hearing, Chanel Miller, the young woman he violently assaulted, read a searing 7,138-word victim impact statement that went on to be published by BuzzFeed and preceded her memoir, Know My Name.

Ultimately, Turner was released from prison after three months for good behavior. In 2018, he attempted to overturn his sentencing, claiming he was simply attempting “outercourse.” His appeal was swiftly denied.

Today, women warning each other about his whereabouts seems to be a very small price for Turner to pay, and it can’t be overstated that his mere existence poses yet another terrifying reality for women in a state—and nation—already home to an endless supply of them.