Ex-chief of school paroled

Shoaf will be under state supervision.

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

GIRARD — It has been nearly five years since a Girard City Schools superintendent used cocaine, drank vodka and talked about sex in the company of a 17-year-old student in his office.

Now, that former school official is again a free man.

Officials with the Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Joseph Shoaf, 42, was released from the Grafton Correctional Institution in Grafton on Dec. 27, a few weeks short of serving his full five-year term.

Shoaf was released and is under parole supervision in the Ashtabula area, prison officials said.

Department of rehabilitation and correction officials said Shoaf, while under supervision, will be forced to comply with a list of restrictions including: keeping a supervising officer informed of his whereabouts, not leaving the state without permission, not possessing a firearm, not having any drugs in his possession and searches without a warrant.

When sentenced to prison Jan. 24, 2003, Shoaf blamed cocaine addiction for his actions, which included telling the girl it would be easy for him to have someone killed. That occurred a couple weeks after the 17-year-old tape-recorded an incriminating conversation she had with Shoaf in his office in April 2002.

In the recording, Shoaf could be heard using cocaine with the girl, drinking vodka and talking of sex, an affidavit states. Police also say Shoaf gave the girl black lace undergarments to model for him later.

Shoaf’s attorney filed a brief with Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in early 2007, saying Shoaf would like to be released early so he could become employed by Jim Wheeler of J&K Concrete and Water Proofing in Wickliffe and take care of an elderly parent.

Chuck Morrow, and assistant county prosecutor, said his office was aware of Shoaf’s recent release from prison but said it certainly was not an early release.

“He wanted to be released after four years. We contested it. The judge denied the request, so there was no early release granted,” he said.

jgoodwin@vindy.com