Witness testimony began Wednesday in Pat Kelly’s trial, bringing a BCI investigator, sheriff’s detective and scrapyard owner to the stand.
Prosecuting Attorney James Roberts began his opening statement Wednesday by essentially defining Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly’s time in office with two words: “corruption” and “greed.”
Kelly, sitting with his defense attorney, Scott Wood, wore a black suit, yellow tie and blank expression when Roberts began detailing to the jury each of the 25 counts filed against Kelly.
Wood’s opening statement, similarly, could have summarized Kelly’s defense in two words: “He’s human.”
After the 12-person jury was set for Kelly’s trial Tuesday, not including five alternates, opening statements were given in the Athens County Common Pleas Court.
Wood told the jury in his opening statement to “keep an open mind” before five witnesses took the stand Wednesday.
Special Agent Michael Trout from the Ohio State Criminal Bureau of Investigation was the first to testify.
Trout, 43, has lived in Athens for “20-some years” and has both assisted and led BCI investigations following allegations made by Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn against Kelly in fall 2012.
Kelly was charged last year with 25 counts total, 23 of them felonies. The charges are:
• 13 counts of theft in office
• 4 counts of theft
• Engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity
• Money laundering
• Tampering with evidence
• Tampering with records
• Perjury
• Failure to keep cashbook
• Obstructing official business
• Dereliction of duty
Including Trout, five testified that morning on allegations that Kelly had granted concealed carry weapon permits to friends and family for free and without background checks, scrapped county vehicles and metal and pocketed the money and destroyed county records and documents that could have been pertinent to investigations.
Blackburn alleged that Kelly misused county vehicles and funds, Trout told the jury.
Additionally, Trout assisted in investigating allegations that Kelly had destroyed county records in May 2013.
The BCI requested a search warrant for both Kelly’s home and office in June 2013.
When searching a county vehicle, which was parked in Kelly’s driveway, Trout observed a black leather briefcase containing receipts he suspected pointed to Kelly scrapping vehicles and metal at McKees Auto Parts & Recycling, and then pocketing the funds.
Trout told the jury he thought Kelly destroyed county documents and records kept at a building on Lancaster Street that could have been pertinent to the investigation with the help of deputies and inmate trusties from the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail.
Two witnesses who were present the days those records were allegedly destroyed testified Wednesday — Athens County Sheriff’s Detective Douglas Crites and former SEORJ Trusty George Wilson Jr.
Crites picked Wilson up from the SEORJ May 11, 2013, he told the jury, after Kelly asked him to go to the county garage with two trusties to assist him in unloading metal items and documents to be taken to McKees.
“I didn’t see any paperwork (permitting these items to be destroyed),” Crites said.
Crites said he left because he felt uncomfortable, though he revealed during Wood’s cross-examination that he never told anyone that day what had happened.
Wilson, a trusty present that day, testified that he helped Kelly move documents and items for destruction throughout a week in May. He told the jury he had loaded boxes full of files, some labeled “microfilm,” in to several dump trucks, which he believed were taken to a local dump.
Wilson testified that some of the documents he moved were county prosecutor files, though he couldn’t remember if Blackburn had been present that day.
During cross-examination, Wood asked if he had seen a “heavy-set” man at the garage that day. Wilson said he had, but couldn’t identify him as Blackburn.
Peggy McKee, owner of McKees, said in her testimony that she worked with Kelly multiple times to scrap county vehicles, metals, copper and more — with some receipts valued at hundreds of dollars — and paid him in cash, though Kelly didn’t request she do so. “I usually pay in cash,” she said.
McKee also didn’t request Kelly show her the titles of cars he was scrapping. She usually requests to see such documents, she said, to prove the vehicle isn’t stolen, and testified that she wouldn’t have neglected to do so if Kelly weren’t sheriff.
Last to testify was Denise Blair, a senior manager for the state auditor’s office.
Blair’s testimony regarded receipts for various restaurants and retailers the auditor’s office had found during its annual audit of the sheriff’s office.
Blair discovered a March receipt for Ponderosa Steakhouse labeled “chief meeting NET discussion” at the top, which Kelly reimbursed through the sheriff’s office cashbox.
Kelly told Blair in a written statement that employees were having lunch after being in a parade, though no parades had happened in March, Blair told the jury.
Blair testified that she discovered a June 2011 receipt from Men’s Warehouse valued at $900, though the sheriff’s office cashbook declared the receipt for $600.
Kelly told Blair after the fact that he’d realized it wasn’t a proper purchase, Blair told the jury, and reimbursed the cashbox in March 2012.
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