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Convicted public workers should pay back salary

Guilty pleas entered by two Warren Municipal Court probation officers have placed the court and the city in a bad light, but worse, their lengthy paid leave status while the case was being investigated has cost the city of Warren upwards of $100,000 — repayment of which apparently cannot be demanded.

Former longtime municipal court probation officers Brenda McAllister, 54, and Robin McCoy, 48, will be sentenced in coming weeks in Trumbull Common Pleas Court after each pleaded guilty to two first-degree misdemeanors dealing with ethics violations while in a public job.

The women were using their employment as probation officers to steer those sentenced to serve probation by municipal court judges to the private counseling agencies they operated, New Directions and In Faith’s Hands. The agencies are listed as substance abuse, counseling and violence and mental health agencies.

The two met potential clients at Panera Bread in Warren. Counseling services were $150 and were paid in cash, making it very difficult for investigators to track the exact number of cases they referred to their own agencies.

According to a BCI investigation, brochures describing the services were provided routinely to defendants, probationers, defense attorneys and anyone else going through the probation department. While it’s not a felony and no public money was taken, their actions were illegal because they were using the influence from their public jobs to garner clients for their private enterprises.

Certainly, these illegal actions have put the Warren Municipal Court in a negative light. The women now have pleaded guilty, and according to terms of their plea agreements, both will pay a $2,000 fine and they have submitted letters of resignation to Warren Municipal Court. No jail sentence is expected for the two.

After violating the public trust and shedding a bad light on the court and the city of Warren, we are glad to see them lose their jobs. Still, we hardly believe the recommended penalty is enough punishment.

It appears because these crimes were misdemeanor ethics offenses, the sentencing guidelines allow the common pleas judges who will pronounce sentencing to order only limited fines and little, if any, jail time. There is no provision for “restitution” of their public paychecks and benefits. This money was not stolen.

The supervisors of the two probation officers — Warren Municipal Court Judges Tom Gysegem and Terry Ivanchak — placed the women on paid administrative leave about a year ago, when the investigation began. They were acting on the advice of counsel and based their decision on the fact that, at that time, the two were presumed innocent. That ended up being a very costly decision.

Unfortunately, this is often the case when public employees are under investigation. We hear often the consideration that goes into this decision. If an employee is fired and then cleared of the charges, he or she most certainly will sue to return to work — and for probably much more. It’s not generally as much of a concern in the private sector. There, when it’s believed an employee has acted illegally or unethically, most private employers immediately terminate the worker, and certainly few would send the worker home with pay.

In this case, no one expected the challenges of a global pandemic to present themselves. Nevertheless, it did — at the taxpayers’ expense.

During that time, the two probation officers collected approximately $100,000 combined in salary and benefits.

As we previously have stated in this space, people in public positions, who are appointed or elected to uphold the public trust and who use their public positions for personal gain, should face penalties twice as harsh as private citizens who commit similar crimes.

At the very least, sentencing guidelines should carry language permitting judges to sentence these officers of the court to pay back the salary they collected while they were on paid leave, doing no work but being paid with public funds. They also should be ordered to foot the bill for the lengthy local and state investigation and for prosecution of their cases.

Ohio lawmakers should realize the financial impact cases like this have on the taxpayers and should consider new legislation that would institute options for judges to increase their sentences and call for payback of salary and benefits doled out during paid leave while a case is under investigation.

These women benefited from their unethical behavior. Public employees like that should not be permitted to continue to benefit financially during a taxpayer-funded investigation and prosecution.

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