WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office is recognizing Deputy Marcus Pineda, a three-year member of the agency who serves in its Corrections Division, for his work keeping the county jail running safely.
Pineda’s job puts him in direct contact with every person booked into the Fayette County Jail, the only full-service jail in the county. The Sheriff’s Office operates the facility, which can house up to 120 inmates and sits at the agency’s headquarters on Robinson Road southeast of Washington Court House.
Pineda said he had wanted a career in law enforcement since childhood, but the decision solidified after he left the U.S. Marine Corps.
“I’ve wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement since I was a child, and I felt more compelled to do it after I got out of the Marine Corps and wanted to help people,” Pineda said in a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office.
Day to day, Pineda’s duties include booking inmates into the jail and working the housing pods to make sure both inmates and staff stay safe, along with transporting inmates to and from court appearances, medical visits and other agencies, according to the sheriff’s office. He said becoming a transport officer is the achievement he is proudest of in his career so far.
He described the hardest and most rewarding parts of the job as two sides of the same coin. “Seeing people at their lowest, no matter who they are, bettering themselves when they are not in jail, rebuilding what they have lost, and living a better life,” Pineda said of what keeps him motivated. He credited his colleagues for making him want to stay with the department, saying, “The people that I work with are all great people and willing to help when needed.”
Asked which historical figure he would want to have dinner with, Pineda named Lt. Gen. Lewis “Chesty” Puller, calling him “the most decorated Marine” who “served for 37 years.” Puller, who died in 1971, remains the most decorated officer in Marine Corps history, having earned five Navy Crosses — more than any other Marine — across combat in Nicaragua, Guadalcanal, New Guinea and the Korean War’s Chosin Reservoir campaign. The Marine Corps later named its bulldog mascot Chesty in his honor.
Pineda offered a favorite piece of advice as well: “The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf.”
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.
