Athens County filed a civil law suit against former sheriff Pat Kelly, seeking a $85,406 reimbursement for salary and benefits paid to Kelly during his suspension.
While former Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly was suspended for 279 days in 2014 before a jury found him guilty of theft in office, he earned $272 a day.
Now that Kelly’s in jail and officially out of his job, the county wants its money back.
Athens County filed a civil lawsuit against Kelly on Tuesday seeking $85,406.50 in reimbursement for salary and benefits Kelly received during his suspension. In court documents, the county broke down Kelly’s $69,372 annual salary as $190 each day. Adding in pension contributions, payments to Medicare and other benefits, the county says Kelly cost taxpayers $272 each day of his suspension.
The county said because Kelly was suspended on March 27, 2014, his compensation before that time counts as “days worked” — and the lawsuit does not ask for that money back.
The county is seeking $76,025 from 2014 and $9,382 from this year.
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Court documents indicate Kelly must make restitution to the county for the sale of property and scrap of county property worth $3,935.60. This includes public money a jury found Kelly spent on personal meals.
Kelly was suspended pending the results of his criminal public corruption trial, which concluded in February when a jury found him guilty on 18 of 25 counts. He was indicted by an Athens County grand jury in January 2014.
The former sheriff will be conveyed to the Lorain Correctional Institution in Grafton, Ohio, to go through the prison intake procedure, according to court documents.
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During Kelly’s suspension, the county paid both Rodney Smith as an interim sheriff and Kelly the same salary.
“In the sheriff’s salary line, I only have enough to pay one elected official,” Athens County Auditor Jill Thompson said in a previous Post report.
In the same article, Athens County Commissioner Lenny Eliason said if Kelly was found guilty, the county could seek to recover the money it paid him while suspended.
“We’ll just have to keep a close watch and keep things going as smoothly as possible,” Eliason said.
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