Ohio Attorney General: Bethesda chief under criminal investigation
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BETHESDA — Suspended Police Chief Eric Smith is under criminal investigation by state officials for alleged misuse of the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway, the computer system police officers use to share criminal justice data.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine confirmed today that the investigation is underway. He said there is no timetable for when the investigation will be complete, but he noted the alleged offense is a felony. DeWineás office did not specify what person or people allegedly were researched or the nature of the information Smith allegedly gathered from the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway system.
This allegation was among the reasons Bethesda Mayor Martin Lucas and his special counsel filed Saturday in a complaint seeking to dismiss Smith from his job. The villageás complaint was dismissed Tuesday, though, so as not to interfere with the stateás investigation. A public hearing on the matter scheduled for Thursday has been canceled.
Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas confirmed that his office received a request for an investigation from the village and referred that request to the attorney generalás office.