An Athens County commissioner was indicted by a grand jury and charged with intimidating a witness in relation to the case of a recently indicted director of the Athens County Department of Jobs and Family Services.
Charging documents in Athens County Common Pleas Court show now-fired JFS Director Jean Demosky was arrested and charged with engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft in office and other charges. Demosky allegedly used more than $1 million in public funds meant for needy families and used the money for ineligible children through a nonprofit.
Charging documents filed by Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn say the allegations stemmed from a whistleblower's letter that alerted the county's three commissioners in September.
Blackburn's office alleges that after receiving the letter, Charlie Adkins, a fourth-term Democrat, and Demosky began interrogating employees to determine who wrote the letter. Demosky and Adkins allegedly threatened to have employees' handwriting analyzed to determine the author.
The letter was initially written anonymously, but charging documents identify the whistleblower as Georgi Wolfe, who helped run the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services Community Cares Fund, the nonprofit in question.
The nonprofit allegedly used Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds and now owes the state of Ohio that money. The company allegedly used the funds for county events like Winterfest, a "Back to School Bash" and "Operation Full Belly."
The indictment states the money for these programs was meant for TANF-eligible recipients these events were meant to serve, but were given to the nonprofit and used to help ineligible recipients too.
The indictment also alleges the county department caused a contract to be created with Schmidt's Sausage Haus in Columbus in which Demosky claimed no fee would be paid. The indictment said a 10% sales fee was assessed that should have been paid to Athens County but was instead paid to the nonprofit.
The Athens County Board of Commissioners voted to oust Demosky at a Tuesday meeting.
Demosky was initially charged with one count of theft in office, but a more detailed indictment was filed Monday bringing the total number of counts to eight.
Blackburn claimed in a press release last week Demosky's organization was "a shill nonprofit using county resources, staff, buildings, equipment and funding to provide goods to ineligible recipients including her own family member."
Blackburn has filed a request to appoint a special prosecutor for the case.
Blackburn didn't return a call requesting comment about the case. He also hasn't issued a press release about the charges against Adkins.
