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Former Salem police officer guilty in theft of four charity gift cards
By D.A. WILKINSON
SALEM
A former Salem policeman used $400 in gift cards intended for the needy to buy routine household items for himself.
Scott A. Shoaff, 34, of state Route 62, was found guilty Tuesday of theft, a first- degree misdemeanor.
He pleaded no contest and was given a 90-day jail sentence that was suspended.
He also was fined $100 and was placed on monitored probation for one year.
Shoaff, an 11-year mem-ber of the Salem Police Department, also resigned from the police department.
The legal victim was Quaker Lodge 88 of the Fraternal Order of Police that encompasses all of Columbiana County.
Police raise funds that are distributed to the needy throughout the county.
Salem Patrolman Brad Davis said that funds have gone to The Banquet, the weekly meal program in Salem.
Funds have been raised through concerts at Salem High School and other projects.
In late 2009, Walmart gift cards, each with a value of $100, were available at the Salem Police Department.
Officers were to mark down the cards they were taking and how they would be used. Police Chief Robert Floor said that normally, “The distribution was done with rules set by the lodge.”
Floor said that it became apparent before last Christmas that four cards were missing.
Floor said he assumed that an officer took the cards but had forgotten to mark them down.
When no one came in to do the paperwork, signs were put up in the police department asking the person who took the cards to do the paperwork. Nothing happened.
Floor said, “It became obvious that four cards were removed from the Salem Police Department and not accounted for.”
Since the cards went missing inside the police department, Floor asked the Ohio Bureau of Identification and Investigation to step in because having Salem police investigate would be a conflict of interest.
Floor said state investigators asked security at the Salem Walmart to check the numbers on the missing gift cards.
That showed the time the cards were used. The store then looked at its camera footage, which showed Shoaff shopping.