Yesterday in Common Pleas Court Wellsville native, resident and CC Health Commissioner Robert Morehead pled guilty to one charge of theft in office in a plea deal hammered out between the prosecution and defense. This action is known as an "Alford plea" in which Morehead maintains his innocence but admits there is evidence that could convict him. In this case it was a situation where Morehead was in the middle of what his board considered were allowable practices and what the State Auditors insisted were illegal. Between a rock and a hard place...
Jury selection was scheduled to begin yesterday for the start of the trial on the charges filed against Morehead. Then last Thursday in a telephone conference between the lawyers and the court it was filed that a deal had been worked out. That came out in the newspapers this past week-end. The trial was rescheduled for a plea hearing.
In the deal Morehead agreed to plea guilty to the one charge, continue making restitution for the State Auditor's findings and resign his position at the Health Dept. Morehead officially retired last March but has continued working with temporary contracts granted by the Health Board. In return the prosecution agreed to drop all other charges and not to make any recommendations for sentencing. Morehead's attorney was quoted as saying they will be asking for community control, or probation, at the sentencing. The charge has a possibility of six to twelve months prison time and a fine. However, prison time is not mandatory. It solely up to the judge's discretion. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 13 of next year.
When Morehead has to resign is debatable. Mary Ann Greier reporting for the ER stated he has to resign on or before the sentencing hearing. Tom Giambroni reported in the MJ that "the felony conviction forces Morehead to resign his position", which indicated to me that it was to be immediately. In The Vindicator D.A. Wilkinson reported that "Morehead is to resign before the next health board meeting Dec. 17". We have three different publications with three different opinions on this part. It's really not important but it's something that got my attention.
I'm not making any judgement on this. Morehead's attorney was quoted as saying in the MJ that "this boils down to Bob Morehead being 59 years old, tired and not wanting to put his family and the health department through the ordeal of a trial". I've known Bobby for a lot of years. Our acquaintance goes back to the days he was a councilman in the ville. He's a good man and I consider him a friend. It's just for the grace of God that if I was in his shoes I wouldn't be in the same predicament. If I were to make any judgement it would be against the health board for letting these practices go on. Their auditors and book keepers should have been adept in what is allowable long before Bob took the position. If anything they mislead him. The prosecutor was quoted as saying he got what he wanted. I hope the change he wanted is not just Bob's resignation and the board adopts policies that will prevent this from happening again.
This has been going on for sometime and I can sympathize with Bob wanting to get this behind him. I'm sorry the state singled him out to be the only culprit for this situation and even though the board has backed Bob from the very beginning they still left him out there by his lonesome. With all consideration I have to commend Bobby having the fortitude to make the best of a bad situation.
Good luck Bobby...
ole nib
8 comments:
They all do it, they just caught Bobby. Others get caught also, they just let them go.
I like Bob too and he did a great job as cc health commissioner.However, I disagree that the health board "mislead" him on the expenditures. Common sense should tell a person that you donot use taxpayer's money to buy concert tickets, golf items, and books even though you indeed to repay the money (?) Yea, Right !!
Let that be a lesson to you Bob. If you're going to use the county's money for Stones tickets, go for the Gold Circle seats!
As a side note, in today's papers it was reported that there will be a special meeting Friday morning at the Health Board. It was stated that this meeting is being held to accept Bob's resignation and to initiate the process of replacing him.
nib
What qualifications do you need to be the commissioner? I am thinking about submitting myself for nomination. In this economy, a job with good benefits is hard to come by!
Old Nib you ought to be ashamed of yourself for commending this thief for stealing money. That is whats wrong with Wellsville, everybody thinks its ok to steal money.
I commended Morehead for having the fortitude to make the best of a bad situation. Although he plead guilty to one count of theft, under the Alford plea it is not an admission of guilt. He was not proven guilty of anything. Actually, in my opinion, it is nothing more than semantics saying let's get this over with. Agreements were made between the prosecution and the defense which the judge accepted. Except for the sentencing this matter is closed with nothing really proven in court. I'm not defending Morehead. There was an incredible amount of lack of good judgement used all around. I still think this matter was caused mostly with his board of directors and their book keeping methods. I did not commend stealing. I don't think good honest people accept stealing to be ok. It's those other people that do that is the problem in our society. Sooner or later those that steal are usually caught.
nib
just leave the poor guy alone. He said he did it and thats that.
Post a Comment