Prosecutor, sheriff at odds over investigators' commissions (UPDATED)

This story has been updated to correct an error. Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson has taken advantage of a rarely used Ohio law to have five of the six criminal investigators in his office commissioned as constables by Sheffield Township trustees. Doing so gives them arrest powers in the event they come across a crime in progress or discover a crime anywhere in the county. The five investigators will remain employees of Tomlinson's office, not the township, according to interviews with the few public officials in Lorain County who were willing to talk about the matter, as well as public records reviewed by The Chronicle-Telegram. Historically, the Lorain County Sheriff has commissioned the investigators in the prosecutor's office as deputy sheriffs or "special deputies," granting them arrest powers. It appears that Lorain County Sheriff Phil Stammitti refused to do so for Tomlinson's investigators. Stammitti's reasoning remains unknown. He declined to comment for this story. Tomlinson also declined to comment. All he confirmed were the names of the investigators in his office who received the commissions: Richard Resendez, Buddy Sivert, Jay Loesch, Garrett Longacre and Steve Zacharias, all of whom are veteran Lorain County police officers. A sixth investigator in Tomlinson's office, Jim Martin, was not commissioned as a constable. Tomlinson did not say why. Based on records provided to The Chronicle by Sheffield Township as part of a public records request, it was Tomlinson who approached trustees and asked them to commission his investigators as constables. Ohio law allows any township to do so: Under Ohio Revised Code Section 509, a board of township trustees may designate "any qualified persons as police constables," giving them arrest powers. Tomlinson "discussed the Lorain County investigators have the power to investigate but not the power to arrest," at the Feb. 21 Sheffield Township trustees' meeting, according to the official minutes of that meeting that are available to the public on the Sheffield Township website and interviews with two of the three trustees who voted unanimously in favor of the plan. Tomlinson also read a memorandum of understanding at the meeting, saying for the record that the township won't bear any legal liability for what his investigators do while on duty. Sheffield Township Trustee Tim Mihalcik said his vote means helping fight crime in Lorain County. "It would help law enforcement with cold cases and putting more men on and out there, and finding out how to solve some of these cases," he said. "To me and the rest of the board, it seemed to be a plus for the area because there are so many unsolved crimes and stuff like that." Trustee Chad Parsons said Tomlinson approached him, Mihalcik and Trustee Barbara Burrill-Horton individually. The example Parsons said Tomlinson gave him was if the investigators were doing an interview, and someone admitted to a crime serious enough that they should be arrested or detained, the investigators could act. Otherwise, the investigators, who conduct pretrial investigations for county prosecutors and sometimes probe unsolved "cold" cases or major drug or human trafficking crimes, would have to call police or sheriff's deputies and wait for them to arrive. "That's the way it was explained to me personally," Parsons said. Tomlinson also promised in writing that the township wouldn't be liable for his investigators' activities. Parsons said the commissions wouldn't cost the township any money and weren't meant to imply the township was starting a police department. Trustees didn't even know they had the authority to commission constables until Tomlinson brought it to their attention, he said. "We've never been approached like this before in the past, and we thought we could help a county department out. To give them the necessary credentials to do their job. They were in a situation where they didn't feel they could do their job properly without having the extra powers, I guess," Parsons said. The vote wasn't intended to create any division between the prosecutor and the sheriff either, Parsons said, and that he wasn't expecting any controversy. Why the commissions didn't go through Stammitti's office, "that's not my concern or business at this point," he told a Chronicle reporter. "We are very satisfied with the Lorain County Sheriff's department, and all the fine men and women who take care of us and all the townships in Lorain County," he said. "It was requested of us and we thought it was the right thing to do." The Chronicle reached out to Horton for comment also. Tomlinson's investigators have more than 100 years law enforcement experience between them. Resendez is a former Lorain police officer, graduate of the FBI National Academy and oversaw the Lorain County Jail as a captain at the sheriff's department under Stammitti. Citing budget concerns, Stammitti laid off Resendez in July 2010. Resendez announced his plan to run against Stammitti for sheriff in 2011, but instead ran for county commissioner as a Democrat, losing to former Commissioner Lori Kokoski in the 2012 primary. Sivert is a former Lorain police detective sergeant who joined Tomlinson's office after the latter was elected prosecutor. Loesch, Longacre and Zacharias all are former Elyria police officers/detectives, and Martin was a Lorain County sheriff's deputy for 25 years. Mihalcik said it quickly became clear to him that Stammitti didn't approve of what Tomlinson did. "Ever since we've done this, it's been like a spitting contest with Mr. Stammitti," Mihalcik said Friday. At the March 21 Sheffield Township trustees meeting, Parsons asked his fellow trustees for a motion to rescind the Feb. 21 resolution giving authority to the constables. He told The Chronicle he did that "out of respect for Sheriff Stammitti." The motion died for lack of support, according to Parsons and the official minutes of the meeting. Parsons said he asked for the motion after "hearing more dialogue." "I just wanted to be fair as a board," he said, after the sheriff's office raised concerns about the agreement. The sheriff's office didn't put pressure on Parsons to rescind the agreement and Parsons said he didn't recall a specific request that Sheffield Township do so. Tomlinson "didn't force this decision on the township. He simply asked in a professional manner and presented facts as to why we should do this," Parsons said. Between the trustees' meetings on March 21 and April 18, Stammitti requested from the township the names of the investigators who were commissioned as constables, according to the official minutes of the April 18 meeting. Lorain County Commissioner Matt Lundy also asked the township to provide him records regarding the matter, according to the meeting minutes. Since then, the Board of Commissioners has voted to hire two outside law firms to give them, and the sheriff's office, legal advice on the matter. Negotiating on behalf of the sherriff is a Columbus-based attorney, Ron O'Brien. Commissioners had previously hired the law firm Tucker Ellis of Cleveland to provide legal advice to them following a vote May 25. Tomlinson's office is represented in the negotiations by Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dan Petticord. Lundy, a Democrat, and Michelle Hung, a Republican, voted "yes," while Commissioner David Moore, a Republican, voted "present." Moore declined comment. Commissioners voted Wednesday to enter into an agreement with O'Brien and the law firm Ziegler, Tigges & Little of Columbus to represent the sheriff's office "related to discussion with the Lorain County Prosecutor," according to the commissioners' agenda. Lundy and Moore cast the deciding votes to hire O'Brien's firm following a closed executive session. Hung was excused from the meeting due to a family matter. Stammitti referred a reporter's questions about the matter to O'Brien, who was the elected Republican prosecutor of central Ohio's Franklin County for 24 years until he was defeated for re-election in 2020. O'Brien said Friday he had no comment on the matter, other than to say he is working with Stammitti, Tomlinson and Tomlinson's staff on negotiating a resolution to the dispute. Lundy was the lone elected official on the county level willing to speak about the matter. He said there is a legal question that needs to be answered, and that he hoped hiring attorneys to negotiate between the parties "will get to the bottom of it." Lundy had no comment on what the cost of the outside legal counsel or associated costs might be. Lundy said he respects both Stammitti and Tomlinson and hopes they can work together in the future. The sheriff's office and the prosecutor's office "are two of the most important offices in county government, so it's important they be able to work together and move forward," Lundy said. A public records request by the Chronicle for six months worth of written and email communications between Stammitti and Tomlinson dating back to December 2021 and specifically relating to discussions about the matter between Stammitti and Tomlinson failed to return any results. The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office said Monday that no such emails exist. Stammitti, who has been Lorain County's elected sheriff since 2000, has granted commissions to investigators in the prosecutor's office before. He did so for fellow Democrat and former Prosecutor Dennis Will during Will's tenure as prosecutor. Tomlinson defeated Will in the Democratic primary in 2020. After Will left office, Stammitti hired him to work in his administration starting in the first week of January 2021. A message seeking comment on the matter was left for Will on Friday. Ninety minutes later, O'Brien replied to a reporter via text message on Will's behalf. Will, Stammitti, Tomlinson and O'Brien "believe at this time that the issues should not be addressed in the media, as they involve the current officeholders," he wrote. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com or on Twitter @daveobrienCT.