Former detective gets help

Sean O'Connell might have gotten a measure of revenge in January when Lake Township police filed an aggravated menacing charge against Josh Feasel, the brother of homicide victim Heather Bogle.The former Sandusky County sheriff's detective, himself, has been under investigation since August, but he's avoided being criminally charged. The misdemeanor charge against Feasel, however, was authorized less than a month after O'Connell filed the complaint.Josh Feasel with his sister, Heather Bogle, in an undated photo. O'Connell told police Feasel came to the McDonald's on Libbey Road in Perrysburg where O'Connell works on Nov. 23."Feasel did order something off the menu that was not able to be served," a Lake Township police report states. "(He) then drove up to the drive-through window and asked to talk to the manager. O'Connell did go to the window and Feasel looked at O'Connell and said 'bang bang' and drove away."O'Connell said Feasel came inside the restaurant about 30 minutes later and repeated the statement. He also told police someone called the McDonald's Dec. 9, asked to speak with him but then hung up the phone as soon as O'Connell said "hello."Feasel declined comment when contacted by the Register.O'Connell could not be reached for comment. The police report did not list contact information for him, but a person who answered the phone at the Libbey Road McDonald's said he no longer works there. O'Connell has generally declined comment to the Register for the last couple years, claiming its news reporting in the past has not been accurate.Wait for itIt remains to be seen whether O'Connell will face criminal charges for allegedly releasing confidential information about the Heather Bogle homicide investigation to a close, personal friend. He also allegedly leaked names of targets and confidential sources in drug investigations being conducted by the sheriff's office, and leaked confidential financial records to a friend.An outside investigation by a Lorain County sheriff's detective referred the case back to former Sandusky County Prosecutor Tom Stierwalt to determine whether O'Connell should be charged, but Stierwalt and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine never authorized any charges against O'Connell.Sandusky County Prosecutor Tim Braun, inherited that investigation this year after defeating Stierwalt in the November election. Braun said a second investigation of O'Connell was launched late last year, and is being conducted by the Ashland County sheriff's office.A spokesman for DeWine, whose investigators also received information about potential criminal wrongdoing inside the Sandusky County sheriff's office, earlier this month stated the Lorain County investigation also is still ongoing. The spokesman refused to say whether the OAG had forwarded any information its investigators had received about potential wrongdoing to either agency investigating O'Connell.O'Connell quit his job as lead detective for the Sandusky County sheriff in September rather than face potential termination or other discipline for improperly leaking confidential information about the Bogle investigation, and the other alleged misconduct.When he made the complaint against Feasel, O'Connell told Lake Township police he "just wants to be left alone," according to the report.Feasel harshly criticized O'Connell before he was removed as lead investigator in the Bogle homicide last year, saying he was misleading family members and refusing to pursue leads about who might have killed Heather the family provided him. Feasel's complaints about the detective were similar to the complaints other families made about O'Connell in other past criminal investigations.Read more: Botching investigationsBogle was killed April 10, 2015. Her body was found in the trunk of her car parked outside an apartment complex in Clyde. She had been brutalized and shot. Nobody was ever charged in her death.Coincidence or pattern? Wood County prosecutor Paul Dobson authorized the aggravated menacing charge against Feasel without ever talking to Feasel.Dobson is acting as a special prosecutor in another case involving O'Connell. Patrick Baker Jr. was convicted in 2015 on a burglary charge based on evidence he claims was manufactured by O'Connell. Baker was sent to a state prison immediately after a trial in county Judge John Dewey's courtroom that lasted less than an hour.But he was released in May 2016 after an appeals court overturned the conviction. He's been waiting nearly a year for a decision whether the charges will be dropped or if he'll face a second trial. Wood County prosecutors agreed to act as special prosecutor earlier this year, but they failed to show up for two pre-trial hearings since being appointed.Baker has a trial date scheduled for next month. It's unclear if O'Connell, who testified against Baker at his first trial, will be recalled as a witness.Sandusky attorney Geoffrey Oglesby, who filed the appeal that won Baker his freedom and is now acting as his defense counsel, said he's ready to go to trial, if necessary. Read moreFrom left, Josh Feasel, brother of homicide victim Heather Bogle, (center) and former Sandusky County sheriff's detective Sean O'Connell.