A Pike County deputy who was fired earlier this year has been rehired by the Sheriff’s office as a school resource officer, while the Guardian has learned exclusive details that the deputy was a one-time national drug dealer, but the deputy says he has turned his life around and is focused on helping his community.
Derek Barbee, 33, currently serves as the school resource officer for Eastern Local Schools in Pike County; it is a position he started in August of this year when school started for the 2020-2021 school year. Technically a “new” employee to the Pike County Sheriff’s office, Barbee is not new to the citizens of the county.
He was hired in 2015 by Sheriff Charles S. Reader, but was later moved to an auxiliary volunteer position after finding new employment. Earlier this year, however, Barbee was removed from the Sheriff’s office’s deputy roster after a video surfaced on social media of him engaged in a physical altercation at a local bar. In the video, Barbee is arguing with a woman and is accused of striking her. Within days, Interim Sheriff Jim Nelson wrote a letter to Barbee informing him that the 33-year-old’s ties with the Sheriff’s office were being severed. Barbee was charged with disorderly conduct by fighting and paid a fine. Barbee contended it was a misunderstanding, and said that upon the advice of “many sources,” he chose to settle the citation.
The Drug Dealing
The Guardian has exclusively learned that Barbee was a one-time drug dealer, specifically in the realm of pills.
The Guardian interviewed two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of an interview Barbee conducted in 2016 with an investigator who was assigned from the Sheriff’s office to Ohio’s BCI. The interview was part of the Pike County Massacre and the state’s investigation into the murders of the Rhoden family and Hannah Gilley.
In the nearly hour-long interview, Barbee met with an investigator and agreed to speak with them about drug activity in the county. Barbee agreed to tell information that he felt might aid investigators in their investigation of who wiped an entire family off the map.
In the preliminary stages of the homicide investigations, it was believed that a high-level drug operation might have been at the center of the murders. It would later be revealed by investigators nearly two years later that they believe another entire family — the Wagners — were actually responsible for the slayings and that it was the result of a custody dispute. Barbee’s interview, however, pre-dated the indictments of the Wagner family, who are currently awaiting trial.
In the interview, Barbee tells the investigator that he used to run drugs for a well known local drug dealer, according to the law enforcement sources who spoke to the Guardian on conditions of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the recording.
Barbee told the investigator that he was out-of-state playing football a few years earlier and became injured. When he returned back to Pike County to heal, he sought temporary employment with a local man. The man — who the Guardian is not naming because he is not a public official and is not facing criminal charges — found out that his co-worker, Barbee was taking pain pills that had been prescribed to him for his injury, the law enforcement sources revealed. That is when the man offered to pay Barbee $300 for the bottle of pills, which would start a daring life of crime for the soon-to-be police officer, the recording reveals.
In the recording, Barbee revealed that a few days after he sold the man his pills, the man came back to him and told him that he had a business opportunity for him: Barbee could make hundreds of dollars at a time if he would drive to Florida on a weekly basis, pick up narcotics, and bring them back to Ohio for drug dealers to sell. Barbee agreed to do it.
Barbee told the investigator the inner-workings of the drug operation and how he went to Florida several times. He told them who was involved and how the deals were done. He said he eventually stopped the drug trade and enrolled in police academy in 2014.
On Tuesday, Barbee agreed to interview with the Guardian and address the recording. There were no questions off limits and Barbee answered all of the questions posed.
“I was more than willing to help at the time, it is very unprofessional for someone to take someone’s willingness to help and use it as a weapon against them years later. It makes persons less likely to trust co-workers and law enforcement officer [sic] in general,” he said.
Barbee said that he had never shared with the Interim Sheriff that the interview in 2016 took place, and the Interim Sheriff said on Tuesday that he had no knowledge of the recording. The Interim Sheriff did not want to discuss the matter or the allegations of Barbee’s admitted past with the Guardian because the Sheriff said he did not have direct knowledge of the situation.
The Bar Fight
In June, Barbee was caught on video that was widely shared on social media engaged in a physical altercation at a local bar, Wagner’s Roadhouse in Chillicothe. In the video, Barbee is seen shouting and coming in physical contact with a woman. The woman claims Barbee hit her while others in the bar begun to physically restrain him; Barbee denies the allegation. He plead guilty to disorderly conduct by fighting and was let go from the Pike County Sheriff’s office on June 16 because of the fight. He waived his court appearance and paid a fine.
“As a result of the incident that allegedly occurred at Wagner’s Roadhouse, Chillicothe, Ohio, this letter is to advise you that as of Tuesday, June 16, 2020, I am withdrawing your commission with the Pike County Sheriff’s Department as a Reserve Deputy,” Interim Sheriff Nelson wrote in a letter to Barbee.
The Re-hiring
It would only be two months later — on August 21 — Barbee would be re-hired back at the Sheriff’s office in a newly created contractual position of school resource officer for Eastern Local Schools, this time as a paid employee.
The position pays $22.44 an hour to the Sheriff’s office from the school, according to public records obtained by the Guardian, and lasts from August 21, 2020 to the end of the school year, in May. Barbee said on Tuesday he only received $18.46 an hour.
Interim Sheriff Nelson told the Guardian that after the fight issue was settled in court and the fine was paid, Barbee was reinstated at the Sheriff’s office.
Barbee’s father, Bob Barbee, is the Sheriff’s office’s chief deputy. Bob Barbee was promoted to the position by Sheriff Reader in 2017 and was kept on by Interim Sheriff Nelson when he took over in July 2019.
The chief deputy’s name and email appear on documents known as SF400 papers in his son’s personnel file, including the most recent hiring last month. According to Derek Barbee, his father sends in all of those documents to the state for the Sheriff’s office regardless of who is involved. When asked on Monday if the elder Barbee’s involvement with his son’s employment was nepotism, the Sheriff said that the father did not supervise his son.
“Chief Barbee has no involvement in supervising, time sheets, cards, or any other involvement with his son,” Nelson said. “Mr. (Derek) Barbee is paid by the school district and is under direction of the school. I, as Sheriff, make decisions of hiring, terminating, and all disciplinary issues.”
In a previous interview with the Guardian, Ohio Ethics Commission’s top chief, Paul Nick, said that nepotism was illegal in Ohio and if being committed, those responsible could be charged.
While Nick did not speak specifically to the Barbee situation, he said that what the public employee cannot do is use his or her position to get the family member a job, or be the person who is directly responsible for reviewing performance or arbitrating issues for that family member.
Nick said his agency has the authority to investigate these types of issues and it a very “fact-intensive situation.”
A message and email left with Eastern Local Schools Superintendent Neil Leist by the Guardian seeking comment for this story was not returned.
The Current Status
Derek Barbee told the Guardian that he does not shy away from his past and has tried to use it as a catalyst to help others.
“My past dealing with drugs and drug dealers are widely known by many. I have been extremely honest and transparent over the years posting my testimony on Facebook many times,” he passionately said. “My story is one of faith, love, forgiveness, perseverance, and redemption. Due to my choices and life experiences early on in my adulthood, I have then since dedicated my life to making my community a better place working with youth to prevent them from ever going down the path of destruction. It has been 12 years since those days, and though I regret my actions, I am thankful for the wisdom I gain. I now get to share wisdom with the young people on our community. “
As of Tuesday, Barbee reported to work at the school as scheduled and the Sheriff said the elected official had no further comment on the matter.
You can read the full interview with Derek Barbee by clicking here.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated at 5:28 p.m. to reflect Derek Barbee’s actual wage, as well as clarifying Bob Barbee’s involvement with the paperwork in Derek Barbee’s personnel file; Derek Barbee was playing college football, not working a job when he was injured.
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