The Columbus Dispatch
NEWARK, Ohio — The suicide of an inmate in the Licking County jail in May sparked an internal investigation that has led to the resignation of four jail corrections officers and the possible resignation of a deputy.
Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp announced the resignations of corrections officers Toby Berry, Jeremiah Moore, Eric Finley and Aubrey Biller today.
“We had information relative to someone not making their rounds as they should, and we investigated it,” said Thorp. “Through that investigation, we found other deficiencies, and we took appropriate action.”
Berry, who was hired on Nov. 13, 2012, missed a bed check of Stanton Deely early on the morning of May 13. Deely was found dead in his bunk later that morning. The missed check did not contribute to Deely’s suicide, said Thorp; a deputy served Deely breakfast after the missed round.
But a closer look at Berry’s work — he worked a double shift that day — revealed other missed or incomplete rounds, Thorp said.
The investigation uncovered similar incomplete and inaccurately logged rounds from the three others, all of whom were hired after Aug. 1, 2013, and were in their initial probationary period.
All four worked the second shift, making up about a quarter of that shift’s jail personnel.
“We’re 24/7, so it puts some stress on the organization, filling shifts,” Thorp said of having fewer workers. “It creates some overtime. We’ve already moved forward with the process of hiring.”
Thorp said a fifth employee, a deputy, is expected to resign by the end of the week. He declined to name the deputy because “it’s still an open situation.”
He said the deputy’s discipline was “a different matter.”
“The employees were all trained appropriately. They all confirmed that they knew what the expectations were. There’s no gray area. They knew that short of resignation, they’d be terminated,” said Thorp.
“I had to ask, is it a culture, or an issue with a shift, or an individual who, for whatever reason, decided to take shortcuts,” Thorp said. “We investigated it. It won’t be tolerated. You have to be able to clean your own house.”
Another Licking County corrections officer, Trevor Starling, was asked to resign in December after admitting to falsifying logs and making incomplete rounds.