43
Salem deputy safety-service director resigns
By D.A. WILKINSON
SALEM
Greg Oesch, the city’s deputy director of safety and service, resigned at noon Thursday after a report indicated he leaked a confidential police document to attack a political candidate.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation was asked to look into how a police report became campaign fodder in 2008 against Caroline Hergenrother, then of Salem, who was running as a Republican for the Ohio House 1st District seat against Democrat Linda Bolon. Hergenrother lost.
Hergenrother was a victim in an alleged altercation outside a city bar that year.
The report did not mention Hergenrother’s name since no charges were filed. An internal police document did mention her name, however.
BCI investigation determined that Oesch had instructed a Salem patrolman to get him a copy of the report.
BCI didn’t file any charges after its investigation, but county Prosecutor Robert Herron said internal police department protocol was not followed.
Mayor Jerry Wolford and Steve Andres, the city’s safety-service director, said they had talked to Oesch on Thursday morning, and Oesch resigned.
“I think he was tired of seeing his name in the paper,” Andres said.
On March 14 this year, police were called by Rubert Cline, a member of the Salem-Perry Crime Watch, who was gathering signatures for a petition.
Oesch, who was not identified in the police report, reportedly told Cline to stop and that there would be consequences if he did not comply.
Council previously had blocked Oesch from being appointed safety director. He was appointed under another ordinance but was not paid. He previously had served on council for at least eight years.
There is no plan to replace him, city officials said.