Pike County Sheriff Charles S. Reader was indicted by a grand jury on Friday for several allegations.
The Grand Jury in Pike County presented Reader with 16 charges including 7 charges of Conflict of Interest, 4 charges of Theft in Office, 2 charges of Theft, 1 charge each of Tampering with Evidence, Tampering with Records, and Securing Writings by Deception.
The Sheriff came under investigation by the State of Ohio Auditor’s office in December after the state received an anonymous complaint that accused Ohio’s most famous Sheriff of stealing money to fuel a gambling habit.
“Reader just does whatever he wants and no one ever calls him on it,” the November 2018 anonymous complaint alleged. “We are scared to death of him. He is unstable and threatens people.” The complaint further alleged that Reader was stealing money from a safe in his office, where seized drug money was stored. The complainant also said the Sheriff was using vehicles from the impound lot for a family member.
In December, the State of Ohio Auditor’s office served a search warrant on the Sheriff’s office and seized numerous records, including titles to impounded vehicles, as well as financial records, personnel files, and much more.
But the Sheriff was not charged with anything related to stealing money on Friday. In fact, quite the opposite. He is accused of borrowing money from employees. The other bulk of the charges relate to vehicles the state says Reader sold at auction to friends.
Because Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk represents the Sheriff by law, Junk recused himself from the investigation and requested a special prosecutor be appointed; then-Auditor Dave Yost appointed in-house prosecutor Bob Smith. However, on Friday, it was apparent Junk had a pulse on everything that was happening. The courthouse was filled with more bailiffs than usual, and Junk had two prosecutor investigators in the building, all carrying firearms and handcuffs. Typically, one-or-two bailiffs are in the building on grand jury days, however, today, there were more than five.
Junk ordered the bailiffs to keep “all people” from going onto the second floor of the courthouse, where the grand jury was meeting, “unless they have business with the clerk [of court],” whose office is on the second floor.
Reader will remain in office, as of now, with no intentions on resigning, according to sources. Because the charges brought against him are felonies, the prosecution can petition the Supreme Court of Ohio for a “suspension,” where the Chief Justice will appoint a three-judge panel to consider removing the Sheriff from office pending the results of the cases. If initiated, the process would take about six weeks to complete; Reader would remain Sheriff until then. If removed, the commissioners will appoint an interim Sheriff for the first ten days. After that, the Pike County Democratic Party will choose a replacement to finish Reader’s term, which ends December 31, 2020.
According to the clerk of courts, he will be given a summons to appear.
Reader was thrust into the spotlight in April 2016 less than a year after being appointed Sheriff, when eight members of the Rhoden family were killed. The homicide investigation started a two-year long search for the killers, which had the Sheriff plastered on every local and major national news outlet.
A disclaimer has been added to this story to publicly disclose that the Guardian’s interim editor-in-chief Derek Myers — through a private LLC — has a contractual agreement with Sheriff Charles S. Reader for public relations management.
