Conflicts like quicksand

NORWALK — Huron County Sheriff Todd Corbin has agreed to allow the Register and Reflector to review all background checks on file for deputies. But he's still not answering questions about why at least one background check either was never conducted or was discarded. "We are compiling the background check records requested for inspection," the sheriff's office manager, Erin Bauer, told the Register in an email on Thursday. The newspaper made a public records request to view the background checks after the sheriff referred questions about missing records and whether records management practices are in compliance with state law to county prosecutor James Joel Sitterly. "We have requested and are awaiting guidance and legal counsel from the Huron County prosecutor, as our legal representative," Chief Deputy David Ditz told the newspaper on Jan. 26. Sitterly has ignored the questions since then. It's not known if other employment files for other deputies have personnel records, including background checks and disciplinary records, or if other deputies also were never asked about past arrests or convictions. Bauer said the records that do exist should be ready for reviewing later this month. Where's the rest of me? The employment file already confirmed to be missing a background check is for Deputy Shannon Lyons, Corbin's cousin, who was hired in 2010 prior to when Corbin was elected sheriff. Lyons was arrested when he was ages 19 and 21 and charged with domestic violence, disorderly conduct, theft and obstruction in three separate incidents, according to court records. There are no records in his file that indicate he ever disclosed the arrests or was asked about them when he was being considered for hiring. Sitterly refuses to say if the prior incidents would have any impact on Lyons' job status — he's a detective — or his ability to be a witness at criminal trials. Sitterly also will not say if he is acting as both legal counsel for the sheriff, and, at the same time, investigating whether public records were improperly or unlawfully discarded or destroyed by the sheriff's office. It can be a conflict to be both prosecutor and defense counsel, but Sitterly won't say whether he's asked for, or recommended, an outside agency conduct an independent investigation. Engaging another law enforcement agency to investigate and asking for a special prosecutor are routine methods used to avoid conflicts or the appearance of a conflict or bias in an investigation. Stepping in it Sitterly also refuses to answer questions about whether he's established a court case for the Amanda Dean investigation or if he will ask for a special prosecutor for it since questions have been raised about how Corbin and Lyons handled that report. Amanda Dean was reported missing on July 11, 2017 — and, less than 24 hours later, the search for her was halted after Corbin said he spoke with an advocate with a domestic violence safe house who told him Amanda went into hiding. Dean was a victim of domestic violence, according to sheriff's reports, and at least one person said her then-boyfriend threatened to kill her. Neither Corbin nor Lyons ever interviewed the man, according to records, and they never interviewed family members or those who saw her last. Interviewing an abuser as well as family members and those who last saw a missing person is a priority, according to the sheriff's own guidelines — but that was never done, according to the available records. A call log from the Norwalk Police Department shows that the Huron County sheriff's office, on the same day Amanda was reported missing, asked the city police to "stand down" after cellphone tracking located the boyfriend in the city. There is no corresponding report from the sheriff's office, however, that states why a deputy asked the city police to stand down, whether the deputy ever talked with the man after locating him, or stating what the man told them about where they might be able to find Amanda Dean. There's no record in the reports from that day, that the sheriff's office made any effort to find the boyfriend or follow up in any way after a caller told deputies that the man threatened to kill Amanda. Corbin and Sitterly both aren't responding to questions about the call log or why there was never any follow-up. Do it again For years, Corbin refused to search for Amanda, who has not been seen or heard from since she was reported missing on July 11, 2017. On Jan. 4 this year, the state Bureau of Criminal Identification agreed to search for her, but little is known about what steps have been taken to locate Amanda. Family members — who have amassed a great deal of information about her final known whereabouts and the circumstances that were occurring when she disappeared — still have not been interviewed more than 5½ years since they reported her missing. The boyfriend also still has not been interviewed and the property in Collins, Ohio, where Amanda lived with the man, has never been searched.