Mathews school resource officer probe continues

January 17, 2019 at 12:05a.m.

VIENNA

Mathews schools Superintendent Russell McQuaide declined to provide specifics about a nearly monthlong investigation of Vienna Police Sergeant Michael Sheehy, the schools’ resource officer, by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

“I don’t want to compromise anything,” McQuaide told reporters Wednesday after the school board meeting at Mathews High School when asked about the nature of the probe. “I can tell you the allegations [do not involve] a student.”

McQuaide would not comment when asked by The Vindicator if the investigation is focused on missing or stolen funds. He would only confirm Sheehy is on administrative leave and the police department has provided substitute officers for the district’s buildings.

McQuaide said he learned of the allegations shortly before Christmas break and reported them to Vienna Police Chief Bob Ludt. The chief turned the investigation over to BCI, he told The Vindicator, declining further comment.

Sheehy had been the Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer for the district before becoming resource officer last September. At that time, the board agreed to contract with the township and pay nearly $37,000 of the officer’s salary, board President Tarin Brown said.

BCI also would not discuss the investigation.

“Any BCI records ... are investigatory work product in a criminal law enforcement matter that has not concluded,” wrote BCI chief legal counsel Zahid Siddiqi in response to an inquiry from The Vindicator.

In another matter, the board unanimously approved a three-year contract with Mathews Education Association, the union for the district’s 59 teachers. The package, retroactive to August, contains pay increases of 2 percent the first year and 1.5 percent the second and third years.

The agreement culminated eight months of negotiations. The MEA ratified the contract last week.