Man is indicted in theft from vets

11/1/2005

PORT CLINTON A Fremont man has been charged with stealing about $14,000 from an Oak Harbor-based veterans organization.

William G. Shetler, Jr., 49, was indicted by an Ottawa County grand jury on one count of theft, a fourth-degree felony. According to the Ottawa County prosecutor s office, Mr. Shetler is accused of taking the money from the Sons of the American Legion between January, 2003, and January, 2005, when he was financial officer for the organization.

Also indicted were:

• Gerald W. Binder, Jr., 27, of Clyde, Ohio, on one count of rape, a first-degree felony. Mr. Binder is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with an intoxicated woman at a party in July in Clay Township. The indictment alleges that the woman s ability to consent or resist was impaired by her intoxication.

• Ralph J. Neill, 42, of Port Clinton, on two counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, both fourth-degree felonies, and one count of driving under suspension, a first-degree misdemeanor. Neill was arrested Sept. 21 after Port Clinton police stopped his vehicle on Fulton Street.

According to the indictment, Neill has been convicted of drunken driving at least three times in the past six years and at least five times in the past 20 years.

He was sentenced Sept. 26 in Ottawa County Municipal Court to one year in jail for one of those prior offenses.