Ohio Police Officer Resigns After Allegedly Using Police Database to ID, Message Woman

A police officer in Ohio has resigned after he allegedly followed a woman in his personal vehicle and then looked up her license plate number in a police database to identify and message her.

Glenn Goss Jr., who worked in the city of Rossford, resigned Tuesday after Emily Hackler posted screenshots of messages he sent her, accusing him of harassment. Hackler said that Goss, who is the son of the city's former police chief, followed her part of the way home from the gym and later messaged her directly.

"So some creep decided to follow me on my way home from planet fitness. Turns out he works for the rossford police department and used my plate number to figure out who I was, to message me personally and tell me how hot I was. Can you say HARASSMENT," she wrote in the Facebook post.

State investigators have now been called in to look into the incident, Ohio newspaper The Blade reported. Goss reportedly submitted his resignation before officials had completed a full review of the incident.

Newsweek reached out to the Rossford Police Department for comment but did not hear back before publication.

In the screenshots shared by Hackler, Goss allegedly wrote: "Had fun racing you on Crossroads and 795 earlier." The woman said in her post that she had not been "racing" the officer. She responded to his message by writing: "Who even are you," to which he replied with a selfie in his police uniform.

Hackler went on to ask Goss how he found out her name, and he said he had looked up her license plate number. He apologized for the "randomness" and then said he wanted to tell her she was "a hottie."

The woman told Goss that she was "not a fan of stalking and harassment" and that he had "no business" looking up her information.

"I do not think a person like that should have a job like that. Working with people and with people's information," Hackler later told local ABC affiliate WTVG 13.

Another woman, Taylor Harder, told news station WTVG 13 that she had a similar incident with the former officer about a year ago.

"He stopped me after I came down the hill in Rossford, and he pulled me over by the railroad tracks. He asked me for my license and registration and everything, told me that I was speeding," Harder said, adding that Goss let her off with a warning. But later that evening, he sent her a message.

"He goes...'Can't believe you got a break.' And I just said '????.' And he just said sweating emoji face. And I go 'am I in trouble?' And he said 'You almost were in trouble sweating emoji face. The next person I stopped wasn't so lucky...hahaha,'" she said, according to a story on WTVG 13's website.

Rossford Mayor Neil MacKinnon said that an internal investigation had been launched immediately following the incident and that it had found there were grounds for termination, but Goss resigned before the investigation was complete. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation is now looking into the matter and may press charges.

"Since the officer resigned prior to the completion of the investigation, no further administrative or employment action is possible. However, the results of the investigation and termination recommendation will remain in Officer Goss' personnel file," MacKinnon said, according to CBS affiliate WTOL 11.