Homicide investigator charged with tampering, falsification
FREMONT, Ohio (AP) — A former Ohio sheriff’s detective accused of mishandling a homicide investigation is charged with felony evidence-tampering and misdemeanors including coercion and falsification.
Sean O’Connell resigned as a Sandusky County investigator last year and was indicted last week on charges including dereliction of duty and obstructing official business. The attorney general’s office says an unrelated felony charge accuses the 53-year-old Fremont man of misusing a law enforcement database.
O’Connell was arrested. The court clerk’s office couldn’t confirm Tuesday whether he has an attorney.
The charges mostly relate to O’Connell’s investigation of the beating and shooting of 28-year-old Heather Bogle. Her body was found in her car trunk in Clyde in April 2015.
After different investigators took over the murder case, a suspect was charged this year and pleaded not guilty.
Church stuns Waffle House workers with $3,500 Christmas tip
CELINA, Ohio (AP) — Employees of a Waffle House restaurant have received a huge tip of over $3,500 from Ohio churchgoers whose pastor preached about generosity at Christmas.
The Dayton Daily News and WHIO-TV report five women working at the Wapakoneta restaurant were stunned when congregants from Grand Lake United Methodist Church in Celina delivered the cash after a Christmas Eve service. The workers were told they could split the money, amounting to over $700 apiece.
Church member Barb Vorhees says several dozen churchgoers drove to the restaurant and packed inside to see the surprise.
The Rev. Mick Whistler had challenged families in his congregation to set aside cash during the weeks before the holiday and then to bring five $1 bills on Christmas Eve.
Dad gets fan’s Votto home run ball for son’s memorial wall
CINCINNATI (AP) — A man who snagged a Joey Votto home run ball during a Cincinnati Reds game in August has fulfilled his promise to give it to the family of a 6-year-old boy who witnessed that big hit weeks before dying of cancer.
WXIX-TV reports that Trey Jones and his 3-year-old son, Keegan, handed over the ball to Wally Herbert last week so it could be added to a memorial wall for Herbert’s son, Walter.
Votto had high-fived Walter, who was known as “Superbubz,” and gave him the home run bat and a No. 19 Reds jersey during the Aug. 31 game.
Jones, of Anderson Township, says he’d wanted to give the ball to the Walter’s family since the game and realizes it means more to them than to him.
