NEWS

Smalley out of prison, still in custody

Jeff Barron
Reporter

LANCASTER - Former Fairfield County Clerk of Courts Deborah Smalley is not in prison anymore, but she is still under the custody of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

According to DRC records, Smalley was granted transitional control Nov. 30. DRC spokesman Brian Niceswanger said she is under the supervision of the Alvis House in Chillicothe and wears an electronic monitoring device until her sentence expires April 26. She does not live at center, however.

Smalley had been serving her sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.

Former Fairfield County Clerk of Courts Deborah Smalley, right, talks to her attorney Scott Wood on  Aug. 14, 2014, in Fairfield County Common Pleas Court.

Visiting Judge Dale Crawford sentenced Smalley to 18 months for theft in office and 12 months in prison for attempted theft in office, to be served concurrently to each other, in 2014.

Her attorney, Scott Wood, said since Smalley was a public official, she is not eligible for judicial release. Niceswanger said under judicial release, the sentencing judge basically waives the rest of a sentence, which did not happen with Smalley.

Wood said the typical person going to prison for the same offenses would have been elegible for release after 30 days and be on probation for up to five years.

"The statute says that as an elected official and the offense that she was convicted of, theft in office, she's not eligible for that," Wood said. "So she has not asked for and not been granted judicial release. What she was granted was through the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, and it is called transitional control.

"It's available to her in the last six months of her sentence. That statute does not disquality her. The purpose is to reduce the prison population for first-time, nonviolent offenders. The judge's input is limited in that situation. The defense attorney's not even involved. That's the method in which she was released, and that is what she's currently under."

Wood and Niceswanger said such DRC moves are common.

In addition to serving prison time, Smalley must pay about $17,000 in restitution for using county funds to pay employees to work on her campaign, buying items with county funds for personal use and diverting campaign funds to her personal bank account.

She also will have to pay $3,500 in court fines.

The Farifield County Common Pleas website lists a March 11 hearing date. Wood said the hearing is to discuss the restitution payment issue.

jbarron@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron