PENSION FUND Ex-board member indicted on theft, ethics charges

COLUMBUS (AP) -- A former Police & amp; Fire Pension Fund Board member was charged with felony theft for accepting gifts, trips and other gratuities, according to an indictment released Friday by the Franklin County prosecutor's office.
Thomas A. Bennett, a former Dayton police detective, accepted dinners, golf outings, alcoholic beverages, trips, tickets to sporting events and other gifts totaling thousands of dollars from vendors doing business with the board, the indictment said.
Bennett also was charged with a misdemeanor ethics violation. If convicted on both charges, he could face six to 18 months in jail.
His indictment is the first stemming from a scandal at the board, which manages $7.4 billion in assets.
Trustees spent $612,451 on travel and expenses in the past five years, sometimes staying at $400-a-night hotels, the Dayton Daily News reported last year. Bennett and another trustee spent more than $218,000 in travel expenses since 1998, the newspaper reported.
The indictment also accuses Bennett of submitting nine reports claiming expenses that were not incurred because Bennett was driving a city-owned car.
Bennett, who has an unlisted phone number, is working with Prosecutor Ron O'Brien and his case should be resolved in the next few weeks, said Bennett's attorney, Ritchey Hollenbaugh.