In Inside Courts, retired judge Tom Hodson explains the complexities of the law and legal cases, helping you understand what’s at stake — and how it affects you.
ATHENS, Ohio – Things have certainly been busy in Athens County courts since my column last month:
- The former head of Athens County Job and Family Services faces an eight-count indictment for misappropriating or misspending $2.5 million.
- A county commissioner has been charged with intimidation of witnesses, a felony.
- The City of Athens reached an agreement for partial reimbursement from the cyber theft in 2024.
- The Common Pleas Court found that the Athens County Prosecutor did not engage in a vindictive prosecution.
Whew!
I will try to break it all down into understandable bites and note some of the interesting twists to all of this.
Jean Demosky case
Demosky, the former head of Athens County Job and Family Services, is facing seven felony charges and one misdemeanor.
Three are first-degree felonies: engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft in office, and telecommunication fraud.
Four are third-degree felonies: two counts of a lower degree theft in office and two counts of intimidation of witnesses.
There also is a misdemeanor charge of misuse of a credit card.
Demosky has pleaded not guilty to all charges and posted a $50,000 bond (10% of a $500,000 bond.) She also is required to surrender her passport with the court.
A pretrial conference has been scheduled for the judge to meet with Demosky and all the attorneys involved at 11 a.m. June 16. The trial has been scheduled for August 17–20, but that is subject to change.
Because of the defendant’s close association with the county, Judge George McCarthy recused himself (in other words, stepped aside) from the case and the Ohio Supreme Court was asked to appoint another judge.
When a new judge is requested, the Supreme Court surveys available retired judges and then appoints someone to preside over all the matters associated with a case. In this matter, court appointed retired Hocking County Common Pleas judge John T. Wallace to hear the case.
Judge Wallace was appointed to the Hocking County bench in 2011 by then-Gov. John Kasich. He ran for election and was elected for a full term in November 2012, defeating attorney Charlie Gerkin in the general election with over 65% of the vote.
He retired from the common pleas court on March 31, 2022.
Prior to being a common pleas judge, he served from 2006 to 2011 as the Hocking County Municipal Court Judge.
As for the attorneys, we have a battle of Columbus heavyweights.
Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn also had a conflict in the case, since he represents the Athens County Commissioners. So, he requested the court appoint a special prosecutor. Judge Wallace appointed experienced attorney Ron O’Brien to prosecute Demosky.
O’Brien served as Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney from 1997 to 2020. His 23 years in the office makes him the longest-serving prosecutor in the history of Franklin County.
Before that he was Columbus City Attorney from 1986 to 1996 and Columbus City Prosecutor from 1978 to 1985. O’Brien currently also serves as Chair of the Ohio Liquor Control Commission.
Demosky is represented by the Tyack law firm in Columbus, namely experienced criminal defense attorney Jonathan Tyack. He is the nephew of G. Gary Tyack, who served as a judge on the 10th District Court of Appeals. Ironically, he defeated O’Brien for Franklin County Prosecutor in 2020.
James P. Tyack will act as co-counsel for the defense.
In a related matter, there is a question about the county’s obligation to give the misappropriated money back to the state. Originally, it was anticipated that $1.5 to $1.7 million was misused.
However, this week, the state reported that $4.6 million was the amount in question. The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services claims that the local agency inappropriately received $1.6 million in reimbursements from the state and federal governments for programs, plus another $3 million for staffing costs.
The state seeks actual reimbursement of nearly $2.6 million from Athens County and has proposed a plan for the county to pay back at $43,098 per quarter for 15 years.
The county has yet to agree to this arrangement.
Charlie Adkins case
Commissioner Charlie Adkins was indicted April 6 on one count of intimidation of a witness, a felony of the third degree. His activity is alleged to have been in tandem with some of Demosky’s actions towards witnesses.
Visiting judge Wallace will preside over both the Adkins and Demosky cases.
He asked Attorney General David Yost to appoint a special prosecutor. Attorney Seth Enlow has been tabbed for the job. Enlow has a history of prosecution as an assistant Franklin County prosecutor
An arraignment (a hearing where the defendant enters a plea) is scheduled for April 24 at 11 a.m. Adkins is expected to plead not guilty to the charge.
He is represented by the Toy Law Offices of Athens, namely K. Robert Toy and Andrew Grillo.
At the arraignment, a pretrial date is expected to be set along with a trial date. Bond will also be set, but it is expected that Adkins will be released on his own recognizance (his written promise to appear) without posting any cash bond. He will not be considered a flight risk.
It is expected that defense attorneys in both cases will be filing a series of pretrial motions to be heard by the judge. Presently, the defense attorneys for both parties are trying to get discovery of evidence from the prosecution and have the indictments more clearly defined through what is called a Bill of Particulars.
While the criminal matter makes its way through the courts, Adkins claims he will remain sitting as an Athens County Commissioner.
Cyber theft case
This case involves the City of Athens trying to retrieve some of the $722,000 stolen from it through a cyber heist in November 2024.
In December 2024, the city filed a lawsuit trying to reclaim the money. We have discussed the complicated procedures involved in that case before and the matter seemed to have bogged down in ongoing negotiations between the bank holding some of the stolen funds, the City of Athens, and another party that was robbed of money at about the same time.
However, the City of Athens announced at a March 30 press conference that mediation had led to an agreement giving the city $205,000 from stolen money being held by a bank in Kentucky.
City Service Safety Director Andrew Stone said that the agreement had not yet been put in writing, and of this reporting the case is still pending in the Athens County Common Pleas Court.
Stone also said that the FBI has identified two suspects as the perpetrators and the city might be able to get some additional reimbursement if the defendants are found guilty.
The defendants are members of the U.S. Air Force stationed at Dover, Delaware, according to the indictment. Their cases are in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
The city also gained an additional $200,000 from an insurance claim, giving it a total reimbursement to date of $405,000 of the $722,000 originally taken.
No vindictive prosecution
At the end of March, Athens County Common Pleas Judge George McCarthy denied defendant Jennifer Sweat’s motion to dismiss her criminal charges due to a claim of vindictive prosecution.
In Ohio, vindictive prosecution is when a prosecutor brings or increases criminal charges to punish a defendant for exercising constitutional or legal rights. The legal concept is based on protecting a defendant’s rights to due process under the constitution.
Sweat was originally charged with the fourth-degree felony of assault, a first-degree misdemeanor of resisting arrest, a second-degree misdemeanor of obstructing official business and a fourth-degree misdemeanor of indecent exposure. The indecent exposure charge was dismissed.
The new charges included a third-degree felony of intimidation, and another fourth-degree felony assault charge. The new indictment also added a third-degree misdemeanor of sexual imposition. (Sweat is accused of slapping a police officer on his butt.)
In a motion heard by McCarthy on March 18, Sweat claimed that additional felony charges were brought against her by Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn because she turned down a plea agreement and demanded the exercise of her constitutional rights to a jury trial.
She said the new charges were in retaliation for her refusal to enter an alcohol diversion program and instead wanting a full jury trial.
Sweat’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender for the Ohio Public Defender’s Office Donald Gallick. was allowed by Judge McCarthy to put Blackburn on the stand to make a record of the prosecutor’s actions for a possible later appeal.
Gallick also argued that the new felony charges brought by Blackburn’s office were not based on any new evidence. The prosecutors, however, countered that they reviewed the case and decided that new charges were warranted.
Judge McCarthy agreed with the prosecution and turned down the motion. He said:
“The court just doesn’t see any inkling, any showing, of prosecutorial misconduct. The mere fact … that the state filed additional charges that could have been brought at the beginning is not enough in and of itself to substantiate reading that into the indictment.”
Sweat’s trial is currently scheduled for May 14.
