COLUMBIANA COUNTY Former superintendent to learn lesson of crime

A six-month jail term is recommended, but a judge is not obligated to agree.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- A longtime educator who committed theft in office was to learn today whether he will spend time in prison for the crime.
Sentencing was set this morning in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court for Charles McShane, former Lisbon schools superintendent and Salem High School principal.
McShane, 53, of Kennedy Drive, Salem, stunned residents in Lisbon and Salem when he appeared in August before Judge David Tobin and pleaded guilty to the fifth-degree felony.
Many who know McShane, who has a reputation for friendliness and professionalism, were shocked that he would have committed theft.
McShane did not respond to a request for an interview.
The crime, which bears a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $2,500 fine, stemmed from his actions associated with the Salem district. There is no accusation that he stole from Lisbon schools.
County Prosecutor Robert Herron has recommended that McShane receive a six-month sentence in exchange for his guilty plea. Judge Tobin is not obligated to accept the terms of the plea deal, although judges frequently do so.
What's happened
In the weeks since McShane's plea, authorities have been conducting a presentence investigation that the judge will use to determine an appropriate sentence.
The plea deal required McShane to resign as Lisbon superintendent, an $84,327-a-year job he had held since January 2001.
The Lisbon district has since replaced him. He also was ordered to pay back the money he stole, which he has done.
As a result of his being a felon, McShane no longer will be permitted to hold public office.
In pleading guilty, he admitted that in fall 2000, while he was Salem High School principal, he cashed a $1,701 check made out to the high school and put the money in his personal account.
The stolen money was a payment to the school from a company that had done work associated with school photos.
McShane also admitted that in February and early March of this year he pocketed about $2,475 in proceeds from a boys basketball tournament at Salem High School. McShane was ticket manager for the event.
Herron has said investigators are uncertain what motivated McShane to commit the crime.
The prosecutor's office and Salem school authorities began probing the matter after school officials noticed what appeared to be doctored ticket sales reports.