Former police chief gets probation

Staff report

CLEVELAND

A former Craig Beach police chief has been sentenced to a year’s probation and fined $500 after he pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of possessing official insignia.

Jason E. Brown of Masury was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of false personation of a law-enforcement officer, but the U.S. attorney’s office reduced the charge.

Brown pleaded guilty to the reduced charge Oct. 8 and was sentenced Dec. 22 by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Gaughan.

The indictment said Brown wore a shirt indicating membership in the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force on May 11, 2014.

Brown once was temporarily assigned to the U.S. Marshals Task Force on a part-time basis, but he has not held a law-enforcement commission since July 1, 2009, according to a U.S. marshal’s affidavit.

The original charge arose from a report by Girard police, who said they found Brown with two other people when they responded to a report of shots fired along railroad tracks near State Street.

A police captain said he noticed Brown wearing the U.S. marshal’s shirt.

A charge that accused Brown of discharging a firearm within city limits was dismissed in Girard Municipal Court.