STARK COUNTY Ex-athletic director faces loss of state credentials

Dessecker was put on a three-year probation and fined $5,000 for theft.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- A former Stark County school athletic director, convicted of skimming ticket proceeds to feed a gambling habit, could permanently lose his state teaching and school administrator credentials.
The State Board of Education is to vote Tuesday on permanently revoking William R. Dessecker's high school teaching and principal certificates.
Board spokesman J.C. Benton said Dessecker, the former athletic director at Jackson High School in northern Stark County, is voluntarily surrendering the certificates, meaning Dessecker waived his rights to challenge the actions through administrative hearings.
Dessecker, whose hometown is listed in state records as Akron, was convicted in Stark County Common Pleas Court in February of one felony count of theft in office for stealing slightly more than $1,000.
Dessecker spent 24 years as the athletic director at the high school, and part of his duties included depositing game ticket proceeds.
Prosecutors said the school discovered Dessecker was altering forms that tracked ticket sales.
Judge Charles E. Brown of Stark County Common Pleas Court sentenced Dessecker to three years' probation.
If Dessecker violates probation or if Judge Brown deems it necessary, Dessecker could face 16 months in state prison. The judge said he also fined Dessecker $5,000.
Among the terms of Dessecker's probation were 500 hours of community service, being subjected to random drug and alcohol monitoring and paying back $1,055 to the Jackson school district, Brown said.
Dessecker was also ordered not to gamble, including playing the state lottery, Brown said.
Reached at his Akron-area home, Dessecker said he opted not to challenge the proposed revocations to move on.
Dessecker, who announced his retirement in 2001 but remained with the school system as a part-time assistant director, said he's fully retired.
"I'm out of it, totally," Dessecker said. He declined to comment further.