MARLBORO TOWNSHIP RESIDENTS TO STAY AWAY IN LARGE NUMBERS FROM TRUSTEES "DEVIES" WORK SESSION ON MONDAY?

UPDATE: 12:30 P.M.

COMMENT FROM LARRY DORDEA. Officer Dordea was Sheriff Swanson's opponent in November, 2008 and plans to run for sheriff again in November, 2012.

COMMENT FOLLOWS:

Mr Olson,

I spent two days outside the courtroom so I was not privy to the opening statements. The Devies' are fine men and their attorneys some [sic] up the situation with a level of clarity that needs to be seen all throughout Marlboro Township. This was a political witch hunt that was aided and abetted by the Stark County Sheriff's Office and the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office. There is no excuse for the way this went down, both county offices were represented by their "heavy hitters", their notorious "big guns". You have done a much needed service by making this video available to the public. Thank you for taking the time and putting forth the effort to follow this unwarranted criminal case to its conclusion.

I agree with you that apologies are in order but these offices and their representatives have a history of the hard line. No apologies and no explanations. I sincerely doubt that they are sorry for anything but losing the case and I doubt they are ashamed of the shoddy work that they did. What has happened to our once outstanding sheriff’s office?

To Ron and Kyle, I am ashamed, both as a lifetime law enforcement officer and as a life time Stark County resident. Neither of you deserved the mistreatment that you suffered and you have proven the quality of your character both during this prolonged persecution and every day since your vindication. I have no idea where all of this will eventually lead but know that many good people believe in you and will stand with you. May god bless you and keep you safe.

Larry Dordea

ORIGINAL POST

Marlboro Township trustees (except for Wayne Schilig) are still on the hot seat for the way they handled a misunderstanding between them and former employee Kyle Devies.

On January 5, 2009, the trustees decided to dismiss township computer specialist Devies, but gave him a very short timeline (one day) to transition the computer system from software he personally owned to that owned by the township.

Consequently, there was a glitch that caused some of the township's computers to be inoperative for a period of time.

Relationships between Kyle's father Ron (Marlboro police chief) and Trustees Wise and Wolf have been strained from the time the two first took office in January, 2010.

The SCPR's understanding of the Devies' position is that Wise and Wolf have been on Ron's case ever since, looking for a reason to get at him - one way or another.

SCPR blog readers can search the blog for videos featuring Chief Devies describing the run-ins with the Wise/Wolf duo searching per the graphic to the immediate left of this text.


A number of township residents believe that Wlse and Wolf pounced on the computer glitch and Ron's effort (an advisory role) to help Kyle to make the switch properly and lawfully as an opportunity to make a law enforcement matter out of the incident.

The result was that Ron and Kyle were charged with one count each with 4th degree felonies (obstructing public business) and Ron with additional misdemeanor count (dereliction of duty).

The SCPR has already opinionated in this blog about the monumental failure of the Stark County sheriff and prosecutor to screen out what the SCPR believed from the get-go as being a obvious non law enforcement matter.

Stark County Common Pleas Judge Lee Sinclair did his part to see that justice was done to the Devies by dismissing the case at the end of the prosecutor's presentation of evidence.

But the battle rages on to restore the Devies - as nearly as possible - to the situation they were in before being put through a totally uncalled for law enforcement process (i.e. being formally indicted).

No apologies from the sheriff, the prosecutor nor Trustees Wise and Wolf.

Ron Devies says that Trustee Wise is adamantly opposed to compensating he and his son for their expenses incurred in connection with the event. Wolf reportedly is waffling on the matter, while Trustee Schilig is for compensating.

So has justice been done?

Only partly: Judge Sinclair's decision.

For the fullest measure of justice to occur (in the opinion of the SCPR), Sheriff Swanson, Prosecutor Ferrero and Trustees Wise and Wolf would have to write public apologies. Moreover, the trustees would have to compensate the Devies for their expenses.

The trustee have called a "work session" for Monday, June 15th to hear township residents on the Devies matter. The SCPR hears that residents are so skeptical of the sincerity of the meeting, that many do not plan to attend. Ron Devies himself has told The Report that he will be unable to attend.

The SCPR is including in this blog posting a video of the opening statements of Prosecutor Dennis Barr and defense attorneys Jeff Jakimedes (Kyle Devies) and Richard Reinbold (Ron Devies).

The video provides an outline of how the trial proceeded.

The video is immediately below.http: