BOWLING GREEN — A Wood County judge expects to rule just before Thanksgiving on whether the former director of Visit Perrysburg, accused of stealing more than $1,000 from that agency, is eligible for a diversion program if she pleads guilty to a fifth-degree felony theft charge.
The defense for Christine Best, 54, of Bowling Green, has moved for her admission to such a program on the grounds that she was mentally ill when she improperly spent between $1,000 and $7,500 in Perrysburg Convention and Visitors’ Bureau funds.
But prosecutors filed a motion objecting to that admission and argued in Wood County Common Pleas Court that Mrs. Best deliberately hid how the money was spent, in conflict with her assertion that she believed she had been authorized by the bureau’s governing board to spend it.
“I don’t think the defendant suffers from any mental-health problem that led to this offense,” Pamela Gross, an assistant county prosecutor, told Judge Matthew Reger. “She’s still denying that she did anything wrong.”
Defense lawyer Andrew Schuman countered that her continuing reliance on her story is further evidence of ongoing mental illness.
Ms. Gross also said the convention and visitors’ bureau is “adamantly opposed” to any diversion program for Mrs. Best. It wants to see the case resolved by a trial or a plea.
Judge Reger said he will consider reports filed both by the county probation office and mental-health specialists who examined Mrs. Best and prepare a ruling for a formal hearing Nov. 26 at 3 p.m.
First Published November 12, 2024, 7:13 p.m.
