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Deputy from Franklin found guilty of beating wife unconscious, knocking out her teeth

Douglas Gearhart resigned from Montgomery Co. post
Posted at 7:47 AM, Oct 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-03 07:47:04-04

LEBANON, Ohio -- A Franklin man -- who was employed as a sheriff's deputy earlier this year -- was found guilty of beating his wife and stepdaughter. 

Douglas Gearhart, 44, beat his wife unconscious and knocked out her teeth in February 2017, investigators said.

"When the children found their mother, she was on the garage floor next to a puddle of blood," a news release from the Warren County Prosecutor's Office said.

In the same incident, Gearhart grabbed his stepdaughter by the hair and shoved her into the kitchen island.

At the time, Gearhart was a deputy in the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. He resigned after he was charged with felonious assault and two counts of domestic violence.

“Nothing angers law enforcement officers more than another officer dishonoring the badge," Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said in a news release. "Today’s verdict represents justice not only for his victim, but also for our Southwest Ohio law enforcement community because it cleans from the ranks someone who has no business being a cop."

Gearhart is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 15.