Corbin: No show sheriff

NORWALK — The Huron County Sheriff's Office has failed, repeatedly, to respond to requests for employment records and other records with no explanation for why it seems to be ignoring the state's Public Records Act. The state law requires public agencies to maintain records and make them available to anyone who asks for them, upon request. Most records fall under the "public documents" category and agencies are required to respond to requests. For the past year, however, the sheriff's office has withheld records or ignored records requests. Sheriff Todd Corbin, in one email last year, said he is refusing to respond because news coverage in the Register/Reflector has been incorrect and sensationalized. He's never asked for a correction, however, or stated what information was incorrect or sensationalized. There's nothing in the law — Ohio Revised Code 149.43 — that empowers a sheriff or other public official to ignore what's required in it because they don't want to comply with a records request or they have complaints about the person or entity making a request for records. Both Corbin and the chief deputy, David Ditz, haven't clarified whether the records being requested exist, or if they existed at one time but have since been destroyed, lost or stolen, or are being kept hidden. Last year, employment records, including job performance reviews, for Corbin from when he was deputy were withheld by the sheriff's department office manager for months initially with the explanation that those records were "purged" from the files. Months later, after the Register pointed out that employment records of that kind are required to be kept, the reports were released. Those reports indicated that, when he was a deputy, Corbin on multiple occasions failed to properly file criminal complaints and when he was a road supervisor he failed to require deputies he supervised to properly file reports. The public records that are still missing or being withheld improperly include: • Other disciplinary reports and employment records • Criminal complaints and related records to an alleged domestic violence incident involving a deputy • Stolen/missing gun complaint involving the same deputy • Administrative report and related records (emails, memos, notes, etc.) to an allegation that evidence from an April 2023 search warrant was missing • Use of force (Taser/other) reports In addition, the Register requested contact information for the deputy/employee assigned to monitor an email account Ditz has set up to receive records requests. Ditz refuses to provide that information. Ditz Most requests made to that address, hcso3901@gmail.com, have not been acknowledged or responded to by anyone. Previously, public records requests were handled by the sheriff's office manager, but she resigned from the staff last year. Huron County prosecutor James Joel Sitterly has not responded to inquiries about whether there has been any corrective action taken to ensure that records are being properly maintained by the sheriff's office. Sitterly's office also has failed to respond properly to records requests, specifically for records related to lists that prosecutor's offices compile of law enforcement officers with past disciplinary issues involving integrity or criminal behavior. It's unclear if the sheriff, Ditz and Sitterly are intentionally withholding records improperly or if they are simply unaware of their responsibilities under the law. The Register received a report from the state crime lab that stated a deputy was put on leave in May while an investigation was being conducted related to an allegation that evidence confiscated during the execution of a search warrant — money and a weapon — was missing. The sheriff and Ditz both have refused to confirm or dispute that information, and they have not provided employment records for that deputy. The Register recently requested and received payroll records from the Huron County auditor's office that are under review by a payroll specialist to determine if those records can show the deputy's employment status.