BREAKING NEWS: STUDER IMPOSED FINE ORDERED BY JUDGE FRANK FORCHIONE IS BEING RETURNED FOR DEPOSIT IN THE STARK COUNTY TREASURY!

UPDATE:  02/07/2013 AT NOON

Stark County civic activist and local attorney Craig T. Conley should be very pleased.

But he isn't.

Last week he filed a lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgement  that a fine of Mark Studer that Judge Frank Forchione ordered him to pay for the benefit of the Sandy Hook shooting victims (which turned out to be the Sandy Hook Support Fund) was not allowable under Ohio law.

The Report has learned from a highly credible source that Judge Forchione has asked that the Sandy Hook Support Fund return the $5,000 for deposit in the Stark County treasury.

The Report has further learned that the check has been received in Stark County and is in the possession of Stark County Clerk of Courts Nancy Reinbold for transmittal to the Stark County treasury.

So why isn't Conley happy?

Answer:  because he has been told Matt Rink of The Repository (not communicated to The Report by Rink, but by Conley) that the reason Forchione asked for a return of the money is so that he can avoid Conley's lawsuit and thereby save Stark County money.

Conley told The Report that is disgraceful for Forchione to have asked for the return of the money from the people in need in the affected Sandy Hook community.

He further says that for the lawsuit to go away, Judge Forchione will have to change his order to eliminate the payment of the fine money for the benefit of the Sandy Hook victims.

Then, Conley says, the change in the order will in and of itself render his client's declaratory judgment action moot.

A SCPR "tip-of-the-hat" to Conley for pursuing the matter.

Before yours truly learned of Judge Forchione's reason for asking for the money back, he was up for being a recipient of a SCPR "tip-of-the-hat" award.

But The Report agrees with Conley that the reason given (i.e. to avoid the expense of a lawsuit) is not an acceptable reason.

He should simply admit that he did not comply with ORC 2949.11 in making the order in the first place and refashion it so as to be in compliance with the law of Ohio.

Here is background material from a prior SCPR blog:

In a move that undoubtedly caught Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero by surprise, Stark County civic activist and attorney Craig T. Conley filed suit on behalf of Bethlehem Township resident Thomas Marcelli seeking interpretation of Ohio Revised Code Section 2949.11 (LINK) and that the statute is constitutional.

ORC 2949.11 has been at the fore of communications between Conley and Ferrero's office over the past week or so.

Conley demanded on behalf of client Thomas Marcelli that Ferrero file suit to recover to the Stark County treasury the sum of $5,000 which Stark County Court of Common Pleas Judge Frank Forchione ordered Scott D. Studer (on having pled guilty to multiple counts Illegal Use of a Minor in a Nudity-Oriented Material or Performance [R.C. 21907.323(A)(1)](F2)) to pay as a fine.  However, not to be paid to the Stark treasury; but rather to the Sandy Hook Support Fund.

Readers will recall as reported in local media that Studer (a former Jackson High School freshman basketball coach) had videotaped numerous student athletes (since 2005) taking showers.