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Clinton County Sheriff Richard Kelly and his wife pleaded guilty on Thursday to official misconduct for failing to disclose their ownership of a limited liability corporation the two used to manage jail commissary accounts.
Kelly has also resigned from his position as sheriff.
On Thursday afternoon, the Clinton County commissioners announced that Chief Deputy Shawn Mayfield will serve as acting sheriff. In addition, the Clinton County Republican Party began organizing a caucus of precinct committee officials to select a new sheriff to serve out Kelly’s term. State law requires that the caucus take place within 30 days.
Republican County Chair Jordan Brewer, who is also president of the Clinton County Board of Commissioners, said Kelly’s guilty plea and resignation “brings accountability” and “marks the beginning of an important rebuilding process — not only within the Sheriff’s Department but within our community.”
The Indiana Lawyer reached out to attorneys representing the Kellys but did not receive an immediate response.
The guilty plea is the latest in a slew of legal proceedings involving the couple.
Richard Kelly pleaded guilty to one count of official misconduct and one count of conflict of interest, both level 6 felonies, as part of a plea agreement, according to MyCase, Indiana’s online docket system. The agreement provided a sentence of 2-1/2 years in prison, which was suspended to one year of probation. His wife, Ashley Kelley, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor official misconduct and will serve 180 days on probation.
The Kellys were set to go to trial on May 11 on the charges.
Richard Kelly was elected as sheriff in 2018 and, upon taking office, hired his wife to serve as the county’s jail matron and commissary manager.
While those moves were not unusual, as the county’s previous sheriff had hired his wife for the same positions, court documents revealed that the couple failed to file a conflict of interest disclosure form disclosing their marital status or ownership interest in Leonne LLC, a business the couple had established less than two months before Richard Kelly took office.
According to an investigation by the Indiana State Board of Accounts, more than $32,000 in checks were issued to Ashley Kelly from the commissary fund without a written agreement to authorize the payments. More than $190,000 in checks was issued to Leonne LLC.
The Kellys were paid out of the County General Fund, with the associated compensation for the sheriff and matron positions included in the county’s salary ordinance. But the compensation paid to Ashley through Leonne LLC and the commissary fund were not disclosed in the salary ordinance.
Their ownership and use of the LLC would not have been a crime had the couple filed a disclosure, but the State Board of Accounts and Indiana Attorney General’s Office have held that the Kellys didn’t disclose their interest in the LLC.
The Kellys eventually filed a disclosure form two years after establishing the firm and several months after the investigation into the couple began.
“It’s been a long process, and it’s unfortunate that our county has had to go through this situation,” Clinton County Commissioner Bert Weaver said in a statement. “Public officials are held to a high standard because of the responsibility and trust placed in them, and in this case, that trust was broken over and over again. While this has been difficult for everyone involved, we are hopeful this brings some closure and allows the county to begin moving forward.”
The Kellys are currently wrapped up in several other cases in the state.
On April 17, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office charged the couple with official misconduct after Ashley Kelly allegedly committed fraud against the Indiana State Police Pension Trust Fund. According to court documents, Kelly was taking disability checks from the fund despite not being disabled.
In 2023, the state filed civil charges accusing the couple of malfeasance and requesting civil fines of more than $300,000.
And on May 4, Richard Kelly was accused of unlawfully carrying a handgun while facing felony accusations in Hamilton County.
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