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:

DISCUSSION: MOST OF MARLBORO IS BEHIND THE DEVIES FAMILY?

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) has learned that supporters of Ron and Kyle Devies are forming a DEVIES FAMILY DEFENSE FUND to help Marlboro's police chief and his son come up with the financial wherewithal to defend themselves againist Stark County Grand Jury indictment charges which were an outgrowth of an criminal investigation launched by Marlboro Township trustees.

Readers of The Report will recall that Kyle Devies started out as a volunteer to fix the Township's decrepit computer system several years ago.

Trustee Wise got wind of the "volunteer" status and insisted, according to Police Chief Ron Devies, that Kyle be put on the township payroll. Apparently, that was before Wise and his fellow Dave Wolf figured out that the chief was not easily ordered around by trustee micromanaging when it came to how he ran the police department.

The Report believes that once Wise and Wolf concluded that the chief was going to run the Marlboro Township Police Department the way he saw fit, they devised Plan B.

If there was a Plan B, what would it be?

The Report is of the opinion that Plan B was to replace Ron Devies as police chief and they (not Trustee Shilig) were waiting for something to materialize (e.g. out-and-out insubordination) that they felt would carry the day, in terms of community acquiescence, to implement the plan.

Nobody is really sure (outside of Sheriff Swanson, Prosecutor Ferrero and the grand jury members) as of the writing of this blog, exactly what the factual allegations are which underlie the indictments. Speculation seems to center on Kyle and his use of township computers with the complicity of his father in the alleged mischief.,

With the grand jury action (remember the popular saying about grand jury indictments" "a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich if the prosecutor asked it to), Kyle Devies stands charged with a fourth degree felony: Disrupting a Public Service and, his father Ron, with Complicity in Disrupting a Public Service. These charges carry a possibility for a 6 to 18 month jail term and up to $5,000 in fines.

The Report thinks at the end of the day the Devies will be acquitted or work out a plea bargain.

If there is an acquittal, one would think that there will be a civil suit and Ron Devies could wind up re-instated as police chief as part of a settlement of such a suit.

The Report likes to think and believes that this whole matter has gotten out-of-hand and Trustees Wise and Wolf wish they could "put the genie back in the bottle." But they can't. So what The Report' believes started out as something like "we have to replace our insubordinate police chief" is now way beyond that.

This whole scenario is tragic for all concerned: the Devies, the trustees and the community of Marlboro.