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Retired Chief to Serve as Interim Pike County Sheriff
By: Associated Press
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WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) – A retired police chief will serve as interim sheriff in a southern Ohio county.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that 71-year-old Jim Nelson was selected Thursday night by the Pike County Democratic central committee. The retired Piketon chief will lead the department after Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader accepted suspension earlier this month.
Reader faces counts including theft in office and evidence-tampering after authorities looked into a complaint accusing him of stealing money that had been seized in drug cases. He pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has said the sheriff’s indictment won’t impact the pending murder cases against four suspects charged in the gruesome 2016 shootings of eight people from the Rhoden family, the case that put Reader in the national spotlight.