Ohio Cop: Wife's Appearance In Playboy Shoot Led To Harassment At Work

GAHANNA, Ohio — An Ohio police officer claims he endured "a humiliating and intolerable working environment" after his wife appeared nude for Playboy early last year.

Ron Fithen filed a lawsuit last week in Franklin County court. He is seeking $3.5 million in damages from the Columbus suburb of Gahanna (guh-HA'-nuh), its police department and two police officials.

His attorney, John Sherrod, says Fithen was harassed on the job and was asked repeatedly for copies of the magazine and for the autograph of his wife, Beth. The lawsuit also claims police began an investigation of the couple that caused emotional distress.

The city's lawyer, Brian Zets, says the city hasn't yet seen the lawsuit. But he said Tuesday the city denies the allegations being reported in the media.

Comments

[BabblingBrooks]

09:52 AM on 08/12/2009

Wife in Playboy? Cops ask for mag copies and autographs? THAT'S HARASSMENT?

Don't think so! Sounds like a COMPLIMENT to me! What did they expect? If the cops had not asked for autographs would they have been then insulted?

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

08:40 AM on 08/12/2009

Obviiously he didn't think this through with his wife, now he's all upset. He can resign and move with his wife and four kids to another state. What has not been mentioned is has his wife had any problems from the his co-workers?

[PeaPod3]

08:27 AM on 08/12/2009

looking at his wife, he has nothing to complain about

[cdub1991]

05:35 AM on 08/12/2009

It's Gahanna, Not LA. What did he think was going to happen?

[fphp]

05:28 AM on 08/12/2009

Well, you can't blame people asking for copies of the mag and autographs! But if some city officials took some sort of "uneducated back-water" stance on the fact that his wife was posing nude as if that is a bad thing, and were investigating them for such a thing, well, that's just wrong. I could see that happening seeing that most law enforcement officials, especially in backwards ancient small dinky towns, are out of touch with reality.

[OGoodGrief]

09:53 AM on 08/13/2009

Gahanna is about 20 minutes or so outside of Columbus, Ohio -- an extremely progressive city and home to Ohio State University, so a very liberal area with pockets of conservatives. So no, this is not a backwards area, per se. Although I would say there are a mix of people here (kind of Midwest meets Northeast meets the South).

From local news reports, the issue is that he was truly harassed when he would not provide autographed copies of the issue his wife appeared in. Sorry, but the Chief of Police shouldn't behave in that way and should have let the matter drop, but he didn't. So now comes the lawsuit. Should the officer expected some ribbing when his wife posed nude? Sure, but after that, it should have been dropped but wasn't. Gahanna has a problem now and will probably settle out of court.

[William Young]

05:10 AM on 08/12/2009

Hmmm, shouldn't he be getting upset with his wife for posing in playboy in the first place? This lawsuit will be tossed out.

[f0rTyLeGz]

02:37 AM on 08/12/2009

I would sue too if a coworker asked for my wife's autograph! That's disgusting. Poor guy.

[duxguts]

01:58 AM on 08/12/2009

Look, just because you workmates can see what your wife had for breakfast, I don't think that gives them the right to harass you.

[pab08]

01:55 AM on 08/12/2009

Whatever officer.
Try an image search with your wife's name and find the p*rn site with her name on it.
Either get a divorce because you did not know what she was doing or else cash her checks and shut your mouth you pathetic hump.

[DanteLabon]

01:09 AM on 08/12/2009

Well, I can't take a side untill I see the pics. ;)~~

[MichaelMcKLA]

02:11 AM on 08/12/2009

Copy me on the pics, please. :)

[ccpostman]

05:06 AM on 08/12/2009

Just do a unfiltered search in Google images for "Beth Fithen photos"... tons of photos.

And man is she hot momma!

Here are safe CLEAN ones to open...

http://www.centerfolds.com/data/girls/beth-fithen-330-1.jpg
http://www.centerfolds.com/data/girls/beth-fithen-330-2.jpg
http://www.babepedia.com/babe/Beth_Fithen

[Keith Ward]

11:56 PM on 08/11/2009

Let's see...
She's 30 years old with 4 kids.
Smoking hot! (google her to see the pics)
With a whiny husband.
Yup, she'll be getting rid of his sorry arse pretty soon.

[jeliz]

11:14 PM on 08/11/2009

$3.5 million -- don't make me laugh. I can't believe an attorney took this case. His wife poses nude for Playboy and the other cops are asking for copies and her autograph? I suppose he's smart enough (?) to realize that magazine goes out to millions of men each month. Mom must have kept all the cash from the shoot and daddy didn't get none. If he's unhappy, he needs to divorce his wife and find one that doesn't want to display her goodies to half the men in society. He'd feel more secure and not have "emotional problems."

[Badbone]

11:14 PM on 08/11/2009

What did he think would happen? He allowe his wife to sell her body. Did he think no one would say anything about it?

[roald]

11:26 PM on 08/11/2009

"He allowed"?

[Garioch]

01:55 AM on 08/12/2009

I'm fairly sure that you'll find his wife still owns her body.

[wwsmith]

10:10 PM on 08/11/2009

I always thought that "porn" was in the groin of the beholder

[BabblingBrooks]

09:53 AM on 08/12/2009

It's in the eye of the bee holder, though why anyone would want to hold bees is beyond me...

[VirginiaJeff]

09:35 PM on 08/11/2009

"Waaaahhhh! My wife sold her body for money (which of course we shared) and now everybody's making fun of meeee! The only thing that will make me feel better is more money!"