FRANKFORT, Ind. – A special prosecutor assigned to Clinton County filed criminal charges against Clinton County Sheriff Rich Kelly and his wife Ashley, who is both the Jail Matron and Commissary Manager on Friday, March 4.
This action comes a little over one-year after [Clinton County Prosecutor Tony Sommer] contacted the Indiana State Police regarding “allegations of criminal activity by two sworn police officers” according to the probable cause affidavit affirmed by ISP Sgt. Joseph White. The Kellys each face three counts of official misconduct and one count of criminal conflict of interest.
“Given the timeline of events, this is nothing more than a political farse,” stated Sheriff Kelly via a press release. “The items being contested are still in civil litigation in Tippecanoe County Court and are the same contained in the SBOA findings from last year and our subsequent response.
“My wife and I look forward to continuing our efforts to increase public safety with the hiring of new deputies and jail staff, made possible by the nearly $1,500,000 federal inmate project that we brought into the community in 2020. We plan on announcing our medical savings to the county of over $388,000 for 2021 in the next week. We also look forward to expanding our jail programs to a Jail Chemical Addiction Program (JCAP) that will incorporate more services to the recovery of inmates. We will continue our successful programs, saving taxpayers money, reducing recidivism and providing state of the art technology, equipment and training to all members of our agency.”
The three-member Board of Commissioners (Jordan Brewer, Josh Uitts, and Bert Weaver) released a statement via Commissioner Josh Uitts’ Facebook page.
“This is a sad and unfortunate day for Clinton County. Nobody wants to wake up and face a day knowing that criminal charges have been filed against an elected official in the highest role of law enforcement within the community. We take these charges very seriously and are very concerned about the integrity of Clinton County.
“We also understand the criminal justice system and that individuals are innocent until proven guilty; however, these allegations are extremely serious and very disturbing for individuals that are still in their elected office and appointed position. We hope and pray that Clinton County will become stronger and more resilient from this dark day in our county’s history.”
Online court information does not show if the Kellys have been arrested or any future court dates. In Indiana, only coroners have the official capacity to arrest a sheriff.
Civil litigation in Tippecanoe County Court is set to be heard on March 31, 2022.
