BRYAN, Ohio — The Williams County sheriff announced Thursday he is appealing his recent misdemeanor conviction for improperly disclosing confidential information in a child abuse case and said he still plans to seek re-election in 2020.
A jury convicted Sheriff Steven Towns on the charge in Bryan Municipal Court last week and cleared him of a second identical charge. Three additional misdemeanors of improperly releasing child abuse reports were dismissed. All charges were filed by the Ohio Attorney General's Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The sheriff was sentenced to 180 days in jail, all suspended, three years on monitored community control — during which he is not to release any confidential information — and to pay associated court costs.
The notice of appeal to the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals was filed Thursday in municipal court. Sheriff Towns could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon but said in a news release that he is “also exploring filing an appeal to the Ohio Ethics Committee since they did not hear the charge first and they do have authority over the law in question.”
In June, officials said the sheriff posted hundreds of pages to the county sheriff's website and Facebook page last October. The post included at least two confidential reports of suspected child abuse and the illegal identification of at least one child victim, they said.
Sheriff Towns told The Blade in June that he cooperated with the investigation and the Facebook postings were related to a dispute with Williams County Job and Family Services. He removed a report as soon as he realized his department did not properly redact all confidential information as he believed, he said.
The sheriff said in the news release that he and his attorneys are “confident of an appellate victory.” He noted he already had been qualified as a candidate for the 2020 elections before the case was filed and there is no mechanism to remove a candidate once qualified.
“Removal of a qualified candidate from the ballot that still has appeal rights is manipulative of the election process,” the sheriff said in the release. “The voters of Williams County should have the final decision.”
First Published November 14, 2019, 10:34 p.m.
