County sheriff found guilty of corruption

Associated Press

ATHENS, Ohio

A jury has found a suspended southeastern Ohio county sheriff guilty of using his office to pad his own pockets.

The Athens County jury deliberated two days before finding Patrick Kelly, 64, guilty of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activities, theft in office and other charges. Kelly was led away in handcuffs after the verdict was announced Thursday. Besides buying food and clothing with county money, he was accused of selling county property to a scrapyard.

, and stealing copper wire from a county garage, among other allegations.

Kelly testified during the trial that he never did anything wrong and was guilty of nothing more than poor record-keeping.

He was convicted of 18 of the 25 counts in the indictment. He’ll be sentenced March 30.