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Columbiana Co. sheriff candidate has hard decision to make
The police chief said the candidate is a good officer.
SALEM — Patrolman Austin French’s candidacy for Columbiana County sheriff is in trouble.
“I’m just flabbergasted,” French said Friday.
The patrolman said he will make a statement about his candidacy sometime this weekend.
French, a Salem patrolman since 1999, filed to run as an independent candidate against Perry Township Police Chief Raymond Stone, a Republican, and Leetonia Police Chief John Soldano, a Democrat.
On Thursday, city Law Director C. Brooke Zellers ruled that French can’t run for sheriff because he’s a classified employee.
French’s options were to challenge the ruling, drop out of the race, or quit his job and run for office.
French’s problems increased on Friday when:
UCity officials told him to make a decision about his plan.
UA formal challenge was made to his candidacy.
UA college credential needed to run appears to be from an unaccredited school at the center of a fraud case.
UFrench may have to repay extra money he received for having the questionable bachelor’s degree.
Police Chief Robert Floor said Zellers had given French a notice to make a decision immediately.
Floor said that action wasn’t being taken faster because he couldn’t find a legal definition of the word “immediately.”
Nancy Cope, the secretary of the Columbiana County Republican Party, filed a formal challenge to French’s qualifications with the county elections board.
To run, candidates must have at least two years of supervisory experience as a corporal, or have served as a sergeant or higher post in the last five years, or have completed two years of college at an accredited school.
French said he received a bachelor of science degree in law enforcement in 1995 from LaSalle University in Mandeville, La. The owner, Thomas Kirk, was running a diploma mill and was indicted for fraud in 1996. He was sentenced to five years in U.S. federal prison.
French said he took 150 credit-hour courses over the Internet. He said no one ever contacted him to tell him the degree wasn’t valid.
Floor said French may have been one of the people defrauded by the scam.
French also obtained an “ordination credential” from the World Christian Church, also in Mandeville, La. in 1995. Kirk used that church to hide money, according to reports.
French also completed a professional paralegal program in 1991 at the Southern Career Center in Boca Raton, Fla. French said he took the church and paralegal programs by mail.
When he was hired by Salem, French gave the information about the bachelor’s degree to the city. As a result, he received 12 cents an hour more in pay. That works out to about $2,000.
City Auditor James Armeni said the city could face a finding from state auditors for overpaying an employee.
wilkinson@vindy.com