Editor’s note: After The Blade received incorrect information, this story has been updated to reflect that the Adult Parole Authority’s decision to release Kyle Overmyer to transitional housing does not need to be approved by a judge.

LIMA, Ohio — A former Sandusky County sheriff sent to prison for theft in office, tampering with records, and theft of drugs — among other offenses — will be released to transitional housing for the last several months of his sentence.

The Adult Parole Authority approved Kyle Overmyer for transitional control after a recent hearing, according to Jodi Factor, spokesman for the Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio, where he is serving a four-year sentence.

“Normally, six to eight months before the end of their sentence, they would be transitioned back into the community through a halfway house or something like that,” Mrs. Factor said.

Overmyer, who originally faced 43 counts, pleaded guilty in November, 2016, to three counts of deception to obtain drugs; a count of filing a false financial disclosure statement (a misdemeanor); three counts of theft in office; two counts of tampering with records; and five counts of theft of a dangerous drug.

Investigators said he abused prescription drugs, stole office funds, lied to police departments that he had Drug Enforcement Administration authority to collect drug take-back boxes, and retaliated against witnesses.

Throughout the investigation, he maintained his innocence and blamed a political conspiracy led by area police chiefs gunning for his job as he ran for re-election in 2016. Overmyer was ultimately defeated at the polls.

Police chiefs alerted the DEA and other officials in 2015 after Overmyer made visits to their departments — a rare occurrence for him — and then volunteered to bring drugs from drug take-back boxes to the DEA.

The thefts started in 2015, shortly after multiple doctors, from whom Overmyer previously received prescriptions for painkillers, cut him off, prosecutors said.

Mrs. Factor said parole board’s decision to allow Overmyer to enter transitional housing does not need to be approved by a judge because his sentence was for more than two years. He will serve the remainder of his sentence, which is slated to end April 6, 2020, outside of the prison in a closely supervised environment such as a halfway house.

Overmyer has had only one minor incident of record while incarcerated, Mrs. Factor said, for which he received a verbal reprimand. In July, 2017, a search turned up a supplement bottle with several different kinds of pills inside. Medical staff determined all of the pills were varying types of supplements and not prescription drugs, but they were still considered contraband because the pills weren’t stored in their original containers as required.

First Published June 4, 2019, 9:31 p.m.