Felony indictment for former South Amherst fire chief

Former South Amherst Fire Chief Ronald Schmitz has been indicted by a grand jury on counts of theft in office and tampering with records, both felonies. Schmitz, who goes by Al to avoid confusion with his father, the former mayor, had served on the department more than four decades. He had been chief for 18 years. "Due to the current demands of my full-time job, I feel I need to step down and retire," said a resignation letter dated Jan. 20. At that time, Mayor David Leshinski was not aware of any potential wrongdoing, he said Thursday. "Some firefighters did not like his leadership style, and of course, you're always going to get that," Leshinski said. Then two investigators from the Lorain County prosecutor's office approached and informed him and Fiscal Officer Michelle Henke. Leshinski said they revealed they were looking into allegations that Schmitz had not attended training sessions he was required to complete, but remained on the payroll. There was no incident involving missing money or material resources, he said. County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson confirmed the indictment counts but declined to comment further or say why his office decided to start the investigation. He said more information will come out in court filings. Leshinski said there has been no interruption in fire protection in the village. Dennis Hevener, a veteran firefighter who joined the department full time in 1979, was promoted to chief earlier in the year, and John Crawford was named assistant chief by Village Council on Monday. "The main thing is we're under new leadership now," Hevener said in an interview Thursday. "We're going to continue to serve the residents of the village and the townships we have contracts with. Nothing's going to change, or hopefully they'll get better." He said all South Amherst firefighters are up to date on required training. Since the allegations against Schmitz, the department has changed the way it tracks training hours, with documented certificates that are placed in personnel files. "We're holding people accountable," Hevener said. While he declined to comment on the indictment, Hevener said there had been a lot of discontent with how Schmitz ran the South Amherst Fire Department. Now his focus is on building relationships with neighboring fire departments, which Hevener said will include group trainings. Schmitz was arrested by Lorain County Sheriff's deputies Tuesday and has been released on a $5,000 bond. Lorain County Court of Common Pleas records do not list the next date he is scheduled to appear. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.