Findlay ex-deputy enters plea in inmate s death

8/4/2007

FINDLAY A former Hancock County sheriff s deputy pleaded no contest yesterday to dereliction of duty for failing to provide adequate medical care to a 43-year-old inmate who became ill last year in the county jail and died.

Jeffrey T. Baney, 44, of Findlay was found guilty of the second-degree misdemeanor by visiting Judge Jeffrey Reed, who sentenced him to 30 days in jail and ordered him to pay a $250 fine. The judge said he could serve his sentence in the county s work-release program and ordered that he have no further employment in law enforcement or corrections.

Mr. Baney, who was terminated by the sheriff s office last November, was indicted in March by a Hancock County grand jury.

Special Prosecutor Jeff Strausbaugh said that Mr. Baney, as the person in charge of the jail on his shift, was responsible for making sure inmates received proper medical attention when Lisa Waddell was found unresponsive in her cell April 25, 2006, and died in the early morning hours of April 26 in Blanchard Valley Hospital.