A major row has erupted in the race for the next Ohio governor after Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy released an advert targeting Democrat opponent Amy Acton.
After the incident, Donna Arthur lost custody of Amy and Phillip and their biological father, Gerald Stearns, who had reported the alleged rape to the police, took over. After that, Cledith Arthur was arrested and indicted. Donna Arthur strongly sided with Cledith and stood by him during the legal proceedings. Ohio state authorities stepped in after that noting that Amy Acton and Phillip Stearns were suffering neglect and abuse with Donna and gave custody of the two children to Gerald Stearns after legally removing them. Donna Arthur never sought to regain custody of Amy Acton and Phillip Stearns.
Cledith Arthur was arrested and faced charges in Ohio, but evaded conviction till his 2004 death in Pennsylvania . Donna Arthur sided with him, and the two remained married even as Cledith evaded conviction till, at least, 1981, and later fled the state. Gerald Stearns reported the alleged incident to the police in Ohio in July 1978. She later fled the state with Cledith Arthur, skipping a court hearing, and went into hiding together till his death in 2004 in Pennsylvania. Amy Acton says that she has not spoken to her mother since 1978. In a 2019 interview with The Youngstown Vindicator she said that she last saw her mother during one of the trial sessions of Cledith Arthur.
“I went to give her a kiss, and she just turned her cheek away,” she had said.
