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State probe finds no criminal act in ’08 House race
By D.A. WILKINSON
SALEM
A city official apparently used an internal police document to attack a political candidate in 2008.
Greg Oesch, the city’s deputy director of safety and service, obtained a report about Caroline Hergenrother, then of Salem, who was running as a Republican for the state House 1st District seat still held by Democrat Linda Bolon.
Hergenrother was a victim in an alleged assault with no major injuries outside a Salem bar Sept. 21 that year.
The report put out for the media did not mention her name, but a confidential police report did.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation was asked to investigate and wrapped up its investigation in late February.
The state probe ended with no criminal finding, but Columbiana County Prosecutor Robert Herron said internal police procedures were not followed.
The BCI report states that Oesch went into the police department and asked for a copy of the report without identifying the report by name or number.
The BCI report stated that Oesch instructed Patrolman Richard Kimble to give him a copy of “THE” report without providing a name.
The BCI report also said that the only verified outside source of the report was when Kimble gave the report to Oesch.
A police officer told BCI that Oesch was making derogatory remarks about Hergenrother, and Oesch said of the report, “Ain’t going to be the last time this will be seen.”
The complaint was sent to news outlets outside the area that widely publicized the assault. Hergenrother lost the election.
The investigation showed that the police department kept records of the use of its fax, but it was possible to send faxes without identifying the user.
In an interview with BCI, Oesch denied any involvement in the distribution of the report. He said he only discussed it with Mayor Jerry Wolford and Steve Andres, the city’s safety-service director.
In a statement to BCI, Hergenrother said she learned of the distribution of the police report while campaigning but believed it was done by Oesch.
Wolford and Andres declined to comment because they had not had time to read a 21-page report of the investigation put out by the Ohio Attorney General’s office, which has jurisdiction over BCI.
Oesch could not be reached to comment.