Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Fire Captain Secretly Terrorized Woman, Children for Years

Episode Date: July 22, 2026

Danny Vanover served as a firefighter, paramedic and even a police officer for 25 years. But behind the uniform and the badge, his victims said he was a monster who terrorized them. Vanover was charged with sex crimes and felonious assault in September 2025. Body-worn cameras recorded his arrest. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the case and the Vanover's sentence in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Help is available 24 hours a day. You contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800.799.SAFE (7233) or live chat at https://www.thehotline.org.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Mark Weaver https://x.com/MarkRWeaverCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Because if not, I don't have to control my bladder. You want to lock himself back me and gave a little while. I will literally pee behind his thing. A humiliating moment and a stunning fall from grace for an ex-fire captain, accused of hiding behind his badge while terrorizing the people he should have protected the most. All right. You got to be getting like that for about 20 minutes? Probably not. I'll tell you what Danny Vanover told the judge about the charges.

I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. For decades, Danny Vanover worked as a firefighter. He took an oath to protect and serve. He retired as a captain from a fire department in Ohio. He was celebrated, lauded for his service. But prosecutors said the turnout gear and the uniform hit a man with a dark secret, a man who terrorized people closest to him for years, perpetrating physical and sexual abuse while wearing a uniform. The uniform the victims would claim was a cloak of sorts. It made Danny Vanover look like a really good guy. But the things his victim said he did to them made him a monster. After 25 years of service, Danny Vanover retired as a captain. The fire department posted on Facebook at the time. Goshen Township Board of Trustees accepted with regret the retirement of fire and EMS captain Danny Van over last night. Danny, who is better known as DJ, has worked in Claremont County slash public safety for 25 years. Danny started with the Loveland Sims Fire Department in the mid-1990s.

In 2001, he came to work at Goshen, Fire, and EMS as a part-time firefighter slash paramedic. He was promoted to full-time in 2003, promoted to lieutenant in 2010, and promoted again to captain in 2015. In addition to working for Goshen, he spent many years working at other departments part-time, including Pierce Township and Sycamore Township, as well as the village of Williamsburg, where he worked as a police officer. So Danny Vanover was very decorated in his career. He was promoted to that position of captain in 2015. The fire department went on to say that Vanover would be spending more time with family and raising his act of sons. But in the fall of 2025, retired captain Danny Vanover

was indicted by a grand jury on charges of rape, felonious assault, and gross sexual imposition. And on September 26, 2025, it was around 4.30 p.m. deputies with the Warren County Sheriff's Office went looking for the former fire captain, an arrest warrant in hand. They find Danny Vanover shirtless, and they put him in cuffs. Hello. How are you? Big bad. You mind standing up for me and facing the other side of this car for me? Yeah, just give me a sec. You're good. Got right here, okay?

Go on the base around? Okay, I got a keypad on it too, so. Oh, they got them already. I don't even need to. Right here. Yeah, I can't. You have anything on you though? I was sick of poke me. I don't think so. I think it took almost three to my phone by my body was. Gabley. Yeah, I'm just wondering if we're turning to him. He said, go get him, so I think that we are. Okay. I'm off balance on them. Just like ground.

Okay. Can I put these in that wagon? Give them to my dad if you work. If they were, if they were, they're going to put together. Okay, all right. Vanover is in cuffs going to jail. These charges are serious. The prosecutor would later say that the victims were abused by Van over for years.

The woman was held down and sexually assaulted. The young man said Van over held a blow torch to his skin. And a third victim, a young woman, said Vanover sexually abused her, starting when she was a young child. The prosecutor would later ask to introduce a number of prior bad acts against Vanover at his trial. Assistant prosecutor Brian Goodyear wrote, The facts and circumstances of the pattern of abuse perpetrated by the defendant against all three victims are similar to the allegations in the instant indictment and would demonstrate the defendant's motive, opportunity, identity, scheme, and plan, intent in absence of mistake or accident. Vanover seemed to try to explain the charges when he was taken into custody, take a listen. All right, bud, we're going to walk over to this cruise over here.

You want to transport you on music? Unless it's going to sound weird, but I don't have a whole lot of control on my bladder. So you can put different cups on me? Can I pee real quick before we take off? Because if not, I'm probably going to pee on myself in the car. He wants to know if he can pee before he. On the tree, but otherwise I'm on that feeding in the car because I just have a pad on and not a diaper Can you get my dad's phone number from him because he's in my phone?

You didn't have your phone on you? Yeah, they took it. They took it. I'm not going back against the car or something Okay, well walk back with you slowly. Yep, you're good. I like that. What warrants do you have? Yeah, huh? Hmm? It's all started because I've gone through divorce and She was done. I had a mental break and she was done with me. And sent a paper after they lost the first court case,

it did allegations against . And then I lost the boys of CPS and then they said they were thinking, and everything. And then I countered with it. And then next day I'm now, I got a paper from CPS saying it does good abuse and neglect against and. I got your dad's phone number for you. That's what you want it, right?

Yes, and I need to have him get my phone. Yeah, I'm going to put this in your pocket, okay? Maybe. I'll hold on that. Thank you. It'll be in, his phone number will be in your pocket. Just tell me to get to. Yeah, tell him the number to get him.

You got it in call me a crime. It's on, it's on your Mulligan, Molligan and Playfair and Pather and Molligan. So Van Ever tells the Deutton. Children's Services was involved with the allegations of abuse and he's going through a divorce. He also appears to have some medical problems. Eventually it's time to take Danny Van over to jail for booking. Deputies walk him from the property to the sheriff's cruiser, where he has some trouble getting comfortable. Huh?

Oh, yeah. I don't know. If you're going to, you might have to sit down and slide, just literally slide all the way back. Yeah. Here, you want to turn around and put your butt in first? Think that might help? Well, and if I get my knees up. We'll pull my shorts, like the pant leg up over my knees.

Oh, there you go. Sorry. You're good. You can get... I got your glasses in your hat. I need to get my arm out. Just back that way? There's your arm need to go behind you.

You got it? You got it? Okay. I'm gonna crank this air on because I know it gets warm back there real quick. But if you need to like, however you need a shift. You're up to go on the other side. He's got you on the other side. We pull my right on back. Right.

Alright, you gonna be getting like that for about 20 minutes? Probably not. I'm doing what it is, man. Oh wow. Okay. Yep. Yeah, no problem. So, all right, well, we'll, uh, if you guys don't. Yeah, we got the warrant.

She's logging right now, so we'll get rolling right now just so we'll get rolling right now just so we get rolling. now just so we can get everything everybody out here cool appreciate it all right all uh I'll say if I'll start doing this so we can start rolling so we can get him out of here the deputy gets rolling with Van over for the ride to the jail they said both pre books are full but yeah yep I say yeah we'll pull this one up you got that one up you know we get that one up well I stand you're not the home me yep yep I got you get it's the car if it's all right there we go yep I'll walk over here let's see I get my feet back you're good I never believed in neuropathy until I

had cancer I did but I understand it now we're gonna have to walk back yeah okay cool just walk over here at this ramp just a little bit further There's a stool in here for you to sit on. Is it? First room. One or two. Cool. Appreciate it.

You able to sit down there? Yeah. All right. Do you loosen this tough for put another set on? Much one? Right? Yeah. So I can listen it just a little bit, but I can't take them off.

That's fine. No, I know. They kind of just hold me so I don't flop. Mm-hmm. All right, they'll, uh... Don't trifecta. Yeah. They'll be in here just a little.

I can take those cuffs off of you and get you processed, all right. As the case against Vanover made its way through the courts, he eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of gross sexual imposition and one count of aggravated assault. Vanover said that he was sorry at his sentencing, but Judge Donald Oda, he didn't buy it. So to dig into this, I want to bring in Mark Weaver. He has worked as a special prosecutor in the state of Ohio, also sits as a judge sometime. was also the Deputy Attorney General of the State of Ohio at one point in time and has investigated a number of sex crimes cases. Mark, thanks so much for coming back on. Yeah, another troubling case,

an important one for us to talk about. Yeah, very important. You know, Danny Vanover at his sentencing basically said what was said was not true. They're making him out to be a monster. He cried, but that then said he was sorry. So it's a little confusing to me because he pleaded guilty to two counts of gross sexual imposition and one count of aggravated assault. I mean, we're talking,

this kid said that he held a blow torch to his skin and burned him. He was beaten and starved. I mean, it's a lot. It is a lot. And I'm glad Judge Oda, who I know, I represented him in a state Supreme Court case years ago about gag orders.

I'm glad that. that Judge Oda called out that the tears of this defendant were not for the victims, but were rather for himself. And we see that often in these cases. Defendants get well-dressed for court. They act very nicely. And then during sentencing, they evince this notion of being regretful. Sometimes that's true, but more often it's not. I find it confounding that he would plead guilty to these charges, to these reduced charges, because they had a rape charge first, and then, you know, gross sexual imposition. But he pleaded guilty to these, I guess, lesser charges, if you will, of gross sexual imposition and aggravated assault. The original charges

were like rape, GSI, felonious assault. I mean, why plead guilty? You're saying that you're saying it's not true. Yeah, you mentioned that I sometimes said as a judge as an acting judge when the local municipal court judge goes out on vacation or training, and I've been a magistrate before. So thousands of times I've had what's called the colloquy with the defendant when they plead guilty. Caliqui simply means I, as the judge, ask questions to make sure you as the defendant understand what you're doing when you're pleading guilty. And in felony cases, the colloquy is very involved. It can sometimes take 25, 30 minutes to go through it. And the defendant is asked specific questions. Do they know they're pleading guilty? Do they

They know they're giving up rights. Often the judge will say, are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? And so the notion of somebody saying, I'm going to appeal because I wasn't treated fairly, it usually doesn't fly with an appeals court. Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me. I mean, we have somebody who his victims say he basically hid behind a badge. He was a former police officer. He was a firefighter.

He retired as a fire captain in July of 2020. from the Goshen Fire Department. You know, he was commended for his service when they announced his retirement. He claims he retired because he was stricken with cancer. But I'm just like, you know, this is what terrifies me. You just never know what is going on behind closed doors with somebody. I mean, this is a guy who was celebrated in his position with this fire department. And behind closed doors, victims are saying he,

He was committing sexual assault. He was committing sexual abuse and also basically torturing this one kid by burning him, starving him, locking him in a room. I'm like, how is this possible? We all know about these jekyll hide types, but this to me is mind-boggling. Yeah, what I've seen in my career prosecuting sex offenders and child sex offenders is that many of them are very good at putting on a good face for the world. Many of them go to great lengths to appear to be trustworthy. In some cases, that's how they get close to a child or to a victim by appearing to be trustworthy. And so nearly every police officer and firefighter is somebody who we ought to admire and respect.

But as in every profession, there are some people who dishonor and tarnish the profession. And when it comes to firefighting, it looks like this guy is just the latest example of it. that. He has pleaded guilty, as I mentioned, to these really serious charges. However, he's filed a notice of appeal. I'm a little confused by that. Can you tell me why he might be filing a notice of appeal? Is this like, oh, well, I felt like I had no other choice but to, you know, plead guilty? I mean, what's going on with this? When a defendant pleads guilty, he or she is typically waiving most of their appellate rights. The only rights you don't waive are the ones where if the actual sentencing was done improperly. The judge cites to a wrong statute, the judge

imposes a prison term that the statute doesn't allow. It's a very narrow category of appellate rights after a guilty plea. This just feels like somebody who's denying the truth, denying the obvious and fighting in any possible way he can to slip out of this this trap that he made for himself on the body worn camera footage he makes reference to child protective services being involved in this and you know a divorce he talks about that i mean almost i don't know if he's trying to say oh this is just part of like a messy divorce issue or what um but it sounds like they did a lot of investigation here and obviously interviewed the victims and his defense attorney must have thought that the evidence at trial would have been overwhelming and he would have

gotten far longer than the four and a half years that he did receive had he gone to trial. Given these facts, he should be very happy he has this outcome. It's going to be a tough four and half years for him if he still has cancer and he walked out of court with a cane. So he's having some physical difficulties. And convicts like him are treated poorly in prison. But four and a half years is pretty short. I've got child sex abuse material defendants, child porn defendants who I have sent for double that,

sometimes 10, 12, even 15 years. So given that he was actually doing these things, he ought to be glad he has this result. Judge Oda gave, I believe, the maximum sentence he could for these crimes. And so here's hoping the victim's got some closure, and here's hoping this man will never do this again. Would you have offered a plea deal and agreed to a plea deal in a case like this with this set of facts? It's always hard to second-guess prosecutors. Warren County, Ohio, has a very good prosecutor, David Fordchell, a pretty good prosecution office down there.

In every case, the prosecutor has to look to see, do the victims want to testify at a trial and be cross-examined? and often no. Will it further re-victimized the victims to have to go through what was done to them? Often the answer is no. Is the evidence grown stale because it happened so long ago and you worry about maybe one juror holds out and you get a hung jury and then the trial asked to happen yet again, re-victimizing the victim. So these are the things we talk about with victims' families before we make a decision to offer some sort of negotiated police. negotiated plea. And maybe that was it. I'm just sparing the victims having to testify because they were apparently on board with this. Yeah. Well, it's a really sad case. I hope that the victims can move forward from this. And as you said, there's some accountability here, but just really awful

stuff. And just a reminder, you just don't know what's going on behind somebody's, behind closed doors in somebody's private life. Mark Weaver, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Yes, thank you. Danny Vanover received the maximum sentence allowed four and a half years in prison. He's serving that time in an Ohio prison and he's also filed a notice of appeal. He's also been battling cancer for many years now. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.