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Health official set for trial
Morehead is accused of using county money for personal purchases.
LISBON — Four-and-a-half years after Columbiana County Health Commissioner Robert Morehead’s spending came under scrutiny, there are still questions — questions that may get answered when Morehead goes on trial Dec. 9.
He is accused of using county money for private purchases.
County Auditor Nancy Milliken said Morehead recently paid $20 into the county coffers. The auditor said she doesn’t know what the payment was for, however.
Milliken said that such a repayment would normally include an explanation when a county office’s financial workers turn funds into her office.
Morehead’s spending came to light during a Vindicator series into county trips.
Morehead has continued to work as health commissioner during a series of state audits that called for thousands of dollars in findings. He makes about $89,700 a year, more than some elected officials.
In 2004, county Prosecutor Robert Herron asked for a state criminal probe. At the time, use of the health department credit card showed Morehead had made several hundred dollars in personal buys, including novels, golf accessories and Christmas gifts.
Emily Frazee, a deputy press secretary for the state auditor, has said Morehead is accused of taking between $4,000 and $5,000 and that the details would come out later.
According to the state auditor’s most recent examination of the office, Morehead bought books from Barnes & Noble Booksellers with titles that include “Golf Holes,” “Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book,” “Shut Up and Sing,” “Christmas Treasury,” “Lost Boy Lost Girl” and “Arrogance.”
The two previous audits — 1996 to 2002 and one done in 2003 — show Morehead bought Rolling Stones concert tickets and took cash advances on a county credit card.
Morehead has been charged with one count of theft in office, one count of theft and five counts of forgery.
He faces up to 71‚Ñ2 in years in prison if convicted. He is accused of improperly spending health department funds between 1994 and 1998.
James Manken, who works for the state auditor’s office, was named a special prosecutor after Herron stepped aside. Herron legally represents the health department. Morehead has retained Atty. James Hartford. They have declined to comment on the case.
Retired Judge John R. Milligan, who also was appointed to hear the case when local judges stepped aside, has ordered Manken to provide more information since the alleged activities in the two theft counts span over seven years. He did not give specifics in court records about the information that should be provided to the defense.
The other five charges give time periods when Morehead reputedly forged gasoline receipts.
Throughout the audits and charges, the health board has continued to work with Morehead, and the advisory committee that names health board members has taken a wait-and-see attitude to the case.
wilkinson@vindy.com