“I have nothing to hide,” said 29-year-old Miranda L. Brothers, a Mantua Police Officer, as she tearfully spoke to Portage County deputies. They had just taken her child into foster care and were preparing to question her about a criminal case that has since been dropped. “I’m not doing anything wrong,” she insisted.
The dramatic events unfolded on January 1, 2024, when Miranda was pulled over while driving with her child and dog. Deputies told her they needed to take her child into foster care and asked her to come in for questioning. Shocked and confused, she asked, “They’re going to take custody of my kid? For what?”
The next day, Ohio authorities charged her with child endangerment, alleging that she had left her child alone with a registered sex offender. But months later, on July 11, prosecutors dropped the charges just five days before the trial was set to begin. They claimed they couldn’t proceed because an essential witness was unavailable indefinitely due to medical issues.
Now, Miranda is fighting back. She has filed a lawsuit against the Portage County Sheriff’s Office, calling the entire case baseless. She claims there was no evidence to justify her arrest and accuses a detective, referred to in the lawsuit as “John Doe,” of mishandling explicit photos from her phone. According to her, the detective accessed and shared personal photos that had nothing to do with the child endangerment allegations.
Miranda’s lawsuit points out several critical flaws in the case. She says that on December 7, 2023, the date of the alleged offense, detectives had been observing her and her child as part of the investigation. They were stationed outside a restaurant in Mantua, a small town about 30 miles southeast of Cleveland. Both detectives later testified that at no point did the child have any unsupervised contact with a registered sex offender.
In fact, the lawsuit highlights that a third detective had looked into the allegations earlier and testified under oath that the claims were “unfounded” and “not accurate.”
For Miranda, the ordeal has been a nightmare. Her tearful roadside encounter, the separation from her child, and the baseless allegations have taken a toll. Her lawsuit is a step toward clearing her name and holding the sheriff’s office accountable for what she says was an unjustified and invasive investigation.
This case has left the community in Mantua and beyond questioning how such serious allegations could be pursued without solid evidence and why Miranda’s personal photos were accessed and shared inappropriately. The legal battle is just beginning, but for now, Miranda is determined to tell her side of the story and seek justice.
