Ex-official in Port Clinton indicted in scrap metal theft
8/28/2007PORT CLINTON A high-ranking city employee who recently resigned from his post over the sale of city-owned scrap metal was indicted this morning in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court on two counts of felony theft.
Richard J. Babcock, 56, the city s former safety-service director, was indicted on one count of theft and one count of theft while in office.
Reports from the Ottawa County sheriff s office allege that Mr. Babcock, 611 Betty Lane in Port Clinton, sold city-owned scrap metal, and then failed to turn the funds over to the city.
Because the amount of scrap metal sold for between $500 and $5,000, the theft charge is a felony of the fifth degree, and the theft while in office charge is a felony of the fourth degree, said Mark Mulligan, Ottawa County prosecutor.
Mr. Babcock is scheduled to make his initial court appearance at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 21.
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