Former Allen County Sheriff Samuel Crish pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to several counts of extortion and soliciting bribes related to money taken while in office.
Crish, 55, formerly of Delphos, Ohio, pleaded guilty to two counts each of soliciting bribes and extortion and one count of making a false statement. He will be sentenced later this year by Judge James G. Carr in U.S. District Court.
Crish, a Republican, was sheriff from 2008 until his resignation in 2017. Federal agents raided his office in Lima, Ohio, in September, 2016.
In summarizing the plea agreement, assistant U.S. attorney Gene Crawford outlined charges that Crish solicited or extorted tens of thousands of dollars from several people, including those arrested for prostitution and suspected of illegal gambling operations.
Included in that narrative was an unidentified person who operated a used car business and was arrested during a prostitution sting in August, 2015. The individual gave Crish a $7,000 loan. Crish later met with prosecutors and law enforcement officials and demanded the Lima City Attorney’s Office drop the charges, which later occurred.
Another unidentified person, who also operated a used car business, gave Crish a $10,000 cash loan and the two discussed this person working as an informant in November, 2015. The next day the man was arrested in a prostitution sting, but Crish “told him not to worry about the arrest,” according to federal officials.
In another instance, a nurse who later got a job at the Allen County jail gave Crish a $42,000 check in the alley behind the sheriff’s office after obtaining a home equity line of credit. As sheriff, Crish oversaw operations at the jail.
The initial indictment, unsealed last year, alleged that Crish solicited or extorted nearly $100,000 from five people between 2012 and 2016 and lied to federal investigators looking into the matter. Authorities initially charged him with six counts. One count of soliciting a bribe was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
In court Monday, Crish said little beyond short responses to Judge Carr’s questions, including one asking the former sheriff if he believed that he only received those financial benefits because he was a public official in a position of authority.
“Yes, sir,” Crish said.
The extortion charges each carry a maximum of 20 years of incarceration; the bribery charges 10 years, and the false statement charge carries a maximum of five years. A copy of the plea agreement was not immediately available from the court; Mr. Crawford told the judge that the agreement includes $606,221 to be paid in restitution.
Both Mr. Crawford and Zachary Maisch, an attorney for Crish, declined to comment after Monday’s hearing.
U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman, in a statement, called Crish’s actions “audacious.”
“Demanding bribes from gamblers and johns arrested in prostitution stings reads like something out of a bad movie,” Mr. Herdman said in the statement. “This defendant let down the people of Allen County and the men and women who served with him at the Sheriff’s Office. He does not represent the vast majority of law enforcement, and he will now be held accountable for his crimes.”
First Published March 4, 2019, 9:07 p.m.
