Advocate files for access

NORWALK — A public records advocate filed a writ of mandamus in Huron County Common Pleas Court this morning asking a judge to order Sheriff Todd Corbin to stop destroying public records. Corbin Sitterly Tracy Thom, who has worked with crime victims assisting them in difficult cases, also asked the court to instruct county prosecutor James Sitterly to investigate which records already have been destroyed and to take steps to ensure records, in the future, are properly maintained by the sheriff's office. Corbin, sheriff's office employees and Sitterly "are improperly purging and or destroying public record, specifically disciplinary records and potentially others," Thom wrote in the Complaint for Writ of Mandamus she filed. Thom said the sheriff's office, in a Jan. 24 email to her in response to a public records request, acknowledged purging documents. "I received the following response, 'Be advised there are no disciplinary files. Any disciplinary action documents were purged in accordance with the Contract Bargaining Agreement that was in effect at that time,'" the court filing states. The email from the sheriff's office was attached. The records she requested were disciplinary documents and internal investigation reports for Corbin from when he was a deputy prior to becoming sheriff in 2017. Corbin has declined to respond to questions for weeks, deferring to Sitterly as his legal counsel. Sitterly also has ignored questions from the Register and refuses to address whether he's investigated if public records are being improperly removed, purged, discarded or destroyed. Thom said properly preserving records is a top job for both the sheriff and Sitterly. "What I want the public to know, is what these missing records say. It's important information," she said.