COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A panel of three retired judges will consider whether to suspend a southeast Ohio sheriff who pleaded not guilty to 25 counts in a corruption case.
The Ohio Supreme Court says the commission appointed by the chief justice has two weeks to make a preliminary recommendation about whether Athens County Sheriff Patrick Kelly should be suspended.
The 63-year-old Kelly has denied any wrongdoing.
The charges against him include theft in office, tampering with records and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Kelly is accused of improperly using public funds to buy meals and personal apparel, selling county property to a scrapyard, stealing copper wire from a county garage and failing to keep a cashbook tracking money he received in an official capacity, among other allegations.
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