Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Muskingham County, which has quickly become one of my favorite
counties in the state of Ohio. Kicks butts, takes names,
and they got a story that I just, Oh my goodness,
I am so proud of them. Muskingham County Prosecutor Ron
Welts joining me right now in the Legacy Retirement Group
dot com phone lines. Ron, how are you? I'm great.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
How are you doing tonight?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I am doing well, sir, And and again I am.
I am somewhat flabbergasted and always impressed with what comes
out of Miss Kingham County Prosecutor's office. Six people, six
people being charged with something that sounds like it should
be in a movie somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, some of our stuff should be in a movie.
And quite frankly, I think that you know, get our
fair share of craziness that goes on.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
This I mean this, I don't nothing ever has happened
like this in ms Kingham County has it? As far
as you know? I mean, I can under stand getting
your buddy to do something stupid, or maybe a relative
to get something stupid going on, but having six people
essentially trying to do a jail break here, I mean,
has this ever happened anything along these lines. Was there
(01:13):
a precedent for this or is this a unique piece
of crazy?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, it's unique from the standpoint that you know, they
coordinated an exit from our jail pretty luckily. To be honest,
we have an old office building that was converted to
a jail. It was never meant to be a jail,
but you know, over the last forty plus years we've
had to expand it. It's in a four story building,
(01:40):
so it's not set up ideally, and you know, there
are fire codes that go along with it. And this
particular inmate was able to access a door and coordinate
his girlfriend being at another door to open it up
down at the bottom to let him free. And then
he had other people assisting him along the way. Who
(02:01):
really thought that, you know, they're just helping their buddy out.
What's the what's the worst that could happen?
Speaker 1 (02:07):
The people who are involved here, there's one in particular,
and I don't I don't, well, I forget what is
it was? He was he uncle, uncle dad or a
cousin and uncle.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Or yeah, uncle step dad.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well that's what that's how he haled.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
The Yeah, it's a it's not something that we're necessarily
proud of here in Musquoinue County. But you know, we've
had we've had stranger relationships. You know, we recently had
a case where, you know, brother threw a knife at
another brother while he was visiting because the reason he
was visiting was to visit his child. But while he
(02:51):
was in prison, his brother had a baby with his wife.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Oh goodness, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah. The people that are in jail and in prison
typically don't end up there because they make good decisions
and they tend to follow them up with even worse decisions.
And that that was one of the things that happened here.
We had some people that thought that, you know, I'm
just I'm just gonna help this guy out a little bit,
and uh, you know, nothing's gonna happen to us. And
I think they've they've they messed around and found out
that if you help escaped convicts from our jail, that
(03:25):
our law enforcement is going to come hunt you down
and we're gonna charge you and we're gonna we're gonna
be asking for prisons.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Now I know that you know, this is all still
in progress. They were they've been arrested, charged, and so forth.
This is all still in progress, so you're kind of
limited on on what you can say when it comes
to this particular case. But let me ask you this.
As you pronted out that the building was not dish
designed to be a jail, and so forth, other pluses,
believe it or not, I'm asking you about now that
have come from this, other other holes in the system,
(03:55):
other things that need to be dealt with that you
did not know about. Is there some positive out of
this whole thing?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, I think one of the positives is we've recently
in our county decided to build a new jail that
is actually a jail, and I think that people should
feel much better about the fact that we're going to
have a facility that's designed to make certain that things
like this don't happen. And I think that should make
you know, the community at large happy. Obviously, you know,
(04:23):
these things cost money, and nobody wants to spend that
type of money. But you know, our question that we
always ask people is you know, what price tag would
you put on the safety of your family?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
And I would think that the you know, the voters
that this is obviously good to them to get the
funding for it. I would think after seeing something like this,
they may be able to, you know, be logical. It isn't,
you know, a typical government thing. They're just comming for
more money. They always want money. This is a very
practical and reasonable need. So you probably stand a pretty
(04:55):
good chance, don't you.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Well, we we'd fortunately, are commissioners here, unlike some other
places over the last ten or twelve years, have done
a fantastic job of managing our county funds, and we're
not going to be asking for additional tax dollars. They're
going to be doing it from money that they had saved,
and they're going to be able to take out some
bonds and some projects that we have finished here in
(05:18):
our county, and the taxpayers really aren't going to feel
the brunt of us. They're not going to pay a
single new tax on it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
That's great. Now, it's been about two and a half
months since you and I have talked. Anything else that's
happened out there that I am not aware of that
you want to share.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
With the world, Oh well, I'll tell you. Something that
we're pretty proud of is the speed with which we
move in our county. And we had a crime that
we discovered two weeks ago which involved the murder of
an individual who was unfortunately hidden in a shed. We
discovered the crime on February tenth, and our anticipation is
(05:58):
that the person responsible for that murder is going to
be entering a plea and sentenced this Wednesday, So sixteen
days from discovery of the crime, which is a murder,
to a plea and a sentencing. So when people tell
you that the system is broken and it takes too long,
I think they need to look at where they're living
to say, is it just my system?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
What's your secret? I mean, honestly, how do you go
in sixteen days from the discovery of a crime to
preparing for a plea.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
We work closely with our law enforcement. There's a lot
of mutual respect that goes into it between ourselves and
our local law enforcement agencies, and they understand that if
they're doing the things that we're asking them to do,
that we're going to get results. And our courts and
our judges are responsive to voters that still want to
see people held accountable for committing crimes.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I wanted to tell you too, as I look through
your website, which is very complete, I love the way
you put the synopsis and the people, the pictures and
so forth. Of the people that you're dealing with up
there is one guy, and okay, he's a big, old,
muscle bound, undershirt wearing guy. But you know, you know
(07:14):
who I'm talking about. Adam Adam Gators is his name.
Forty six returned to the supervision of a Kingham County
Adult Probation department on Monday morning, unusual development. Gators had
previously pled guilty to tampering with evidence, assault and falsification
with an agreement that he served jail time and be
placed on community control. After Gators served time in the
(07:35):
local jail, probation department found emotion this is weird, asking
his community control be terminated unsuccessfully, and a judge signed
the order without a hearing. That's a strange series of
events there. But the whole reason I read his story
is because he looks nice. I mean, he looks like
a nice guy. He's a big, old muscle bound guy.
(07:56):
But I'm looking at his face. I've never seen a
friendly mugshot like that before.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Are Yeah, it's a it's an interesting story there. He uh,
you know, had committed some crimes there and he got,
he got put on community control, and what happened is
the court terminated him. And you know, do you have
victim rights now in Ohio under Marcy's Law, and the
victim needed to be notified and have an opportunity to
(08:22):
say their piece in front of the court. We litigated that.
We took it to our Court of Appeals and they
agreed with us and sent it back and said, you know,
before you terminate somebody's community control, you have to allow
the victim an opportunity to be heard. And when the
judge heard the victim at the at the hearing, then
you know he had a different approach to that. He
(08:42):
was mister Gators was placed back on community control as
we believe he should have been.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
So from from your from your perspective, everything worked out
as it should in the end. It's just a I
don't know, just a strange turn of events there. Yeah,
I just I don't know. I always speak very highly
of you, just because the efficient see the openness and
so forth that I see coming out of your office
is something that I truly wish we had all across
(09:08):
the state of Ohio, if not the country. And maybe
it's just because I live here in Franklin County, and
I'm continually shaking my head and wondering where justice is
hiding most of the time. Maybe that's why I look
at your office and what you're doing out there with
such regard, and I just I always like to bring
you on just to let you know that you appreciate it,
(09:30):
Your efforts are appreciated, and they go notice by at
least me.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Well, I can tell you that my staff is certainly aware.
They certainly appreciate it, as do the law enforcement officers
that are involved, so they're appreciative as well. So I'd
like to express thank you from all of us to
you for.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Acknowledging that in a moment of extreme seriousness here my
condolences to you, your office, everybody there. With the loss
of Jesse Hathaway, I did not even know that Jesse
was my He was the one who built the bridge
between this show in your office, and I was emailing
and calling, hey, Jesse, Hey, Jesse, I need to get
(10:06):
rod on what's going on. I wasn't hearing anything, and
then found out that he had, unfortunately a very very
young age, passed away right there at his birthday too,
which was so very sad, but I know that he
was really working on building up those connections for the
office and making sure that we got word of what
you were doing out there. And just again my sincere condolences.
(10:28):
He's lost a good guy. We didn't.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
We appreciate that very much.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Thank you, all right, Ron Welch. He is the prosecutor
in Muskingham County where justice actually gets done quickly, effectively
and repeatedly, and dog got it. You're welcome here anytime, Rod.
I appreciate your time tonight, all right, thank you. You
take care of yourself.
Muskingham County, which has quickly become one of my favorite
counties in the state of Ohio. Kicks butts, takes names,
and they got a story that I just, Oh my goodness,
I am so proud of them. Muskingham County Prosecutor Ron
Welts joining me right now in the Legacy Retirement Group
dot com phone lines. Ron, how are you? I'm great.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
How are you doing tonight?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I am doing well, sir, And and again I am.
I am somewhat flabbergasted and always impressed with what comes
out of Miss Kingham County Prosecutor's office. Six people, six
people being charged with something that sounds like it should
be in a movie somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, some of our stuff should be in a movie.
And quite frankly, I think that you know, get our
fair share of craziness that goes on.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
This I mean this, I don't nothing ever has happened
like this in ms Kingham County has it? As far
as you know? I mean, I can under stand getting
your buddy to do something stupid, or maybe a relative
to get something stupid going on, but having six people
essentially trying to do a jail break here, I mean,
has this ever happened anything along these lines. Was there
(01:13):
a precedent for this or is this a unique piece
of crazy?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, it's unique from the standpoint that you know, they
coordinated an exit from our jail pretty luckily. To be honest,
we have an old office building that was converted to
a jail. It was never meant to be a jail,
but you know, over the last forty plus years we've
had to expand it. It's in a four story building,
(01:40):
so it's not set up ideally, and you know, there
are fire codes that go along with it. And this
particular inmate was able to access a door and coordinate
his girlfriend being at another door to open it up
down at the bottom to let him free. And then
he had other people assisting him along the way. Who
(02:01):
really thought that, you know, they're just helping their buddy out.
What's the what's the worst that could happen?
Speaker 1 (02:07):
The people who are involved here, there's one in particular,
and I don't I don't, well, I forget what is
it was? He was he uncle, uncle dad or a
cousin and uncle.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Or yeah, uncle step dad.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well that's what that's how he haled.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
The Yeah, it's a it's not something that we're necessarily
proud of here in Musquoinue County. But you know, we've
had we've had stranger relationships. You know, we recently had
a case where, you know, brother threw a knife at
another brother while he was visiting because the reason he
was visiting was to visit his child. But while he
(02:51):
was in prison, his brother had a baby with his wife.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Oh goodness, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah. The people that are in jail and in prison
typically don't end up there because they make good decisions
and they tend to follow them up with even worse decisions.
And that that was one of the things that happened here.
We had some people that thought that, you know, I'm
just I'm just gonna help this guy out a little bit,
and uh, you know, nothing's gonna happen to us. And
I think they've they've they messed around and found out
that if you help escaped convicts from our jail, that
(03:25):
our law enforcement is going to come hunt you down
and we're gonna charge you and we're gonna we're gonna
be asking for prisons.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Now I know that you know, this is all still
in progress. They were they've been arrested, charged, and so forth.
This is all still in progress, so you're kind of
limited on on what you can say when it comes
to this particular case. But let me ask you this.
As you pronted out that the building was not dish
designed to be a jail, and so forth, other pluses,
believe it or not, I'm asking you about now that
have come from this, other other holes in the system,
(03:55):
other things that need to be dealt with that you
did not know about. Is there some positive out of
this whole thing?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, I think one of the positives is we've recently
in our county decided to build a new jail that
is actually a jail, and I think that people should
feel much better about the fact that we're going to
have a facility that's designed to make certain that things
like this don't happen. And I think that should make
you know, the community at large happy. Obviously, you know,
(04:23):
these things cost money, and nobody wants to spend that
type of money. But you know, our question that we
always ask people is you know, what price tag would
you put on the safety of your family?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
And I would think that the you know, the voters
that this is obviously good to them to get the
funding for it. I would think after seeing something like this,
they may be able to, you know, be logical. It isn't,
you know, a typical government thing. They're just comming for
more money. They always want money. This is a very
practical and reasonable need. So you probably stand a pretty
(04:55):
good chance, don't you.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Well, we we'd fortunately, are commissioners here, unlike some other
places over the last ten or twelve years, have done
a fantastic job of managing our county funds, and we're
not going to be asking for additional tax dollars. They're
going to be doing it from money that they had saved,
and they're going to be able to take out some
bonds and some projects that we have finished here in
(05:18):
our county, and the taxpayers really aren't going to feel
the brunt of us. They're not going to pay a
single new tax on it.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
That's great. Now, it's been about two and a half
months since you and I have talked. Anything else that's
happened out there that I am not aware of that
you want to share.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
With the world, Oh well, I'll tell you. Something that
we're pretty proud of is the speed with which we
move in our county. And we had a crime that
we discovered two weeks ago which involved the murder of
an individual who was unfortunately hidden in a shed. We
discovered the crime on February tenth, and our anticipation is
(05:58):
that the person responsible for that murder is going to
be entering a plea and sentenced this Wednesday, So sixteen
days from discovery of the crime, which is a murder,
to a plea and a sentencing. So when people tell
you that the system is broken and it takes too long,
I think they need to look at where they're living
to say, is it just my system?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
What's your secret? I mean, honestly, how do you go
in sixteen days from the discovery of a crime to
preparing for a plea.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
We work closely with our law enforcement. There's a lot
of mutual respect that goes into it between ourselves and
our local law enforcement agencies, and they understand that if
they're doing the things that we're asking them to do,
that we're going to get results. And our courts and
our judges are responsive to voters that still want to
see people held accountable for committing crimes.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I wanted to tell you too, as I look through
your website, which is very complete, I love the way
you put the synopsis and the people, the pictures and
so forth. Of the people that you're dealing with up
there is one guy, and okay, he's a big, old,
muscle bound, undershirt wearing guy. But you know, you know
(07:14):
who I'm talking about. Adam Adam Gators is his name.
Forty six returned to the supervision of a Kingham County
Adult Probation department on Monday morning, unusual development. Gators had
previously pled guilty to tampering with evidence, assault and falsification
with an agreement that he served jail time and be
placed on community control. After Gators served time in the
(07:35):
local jail, probation department found emotion this is weird, asking
his community control be terminated unsuccessfully, and a judge signed
the order without a hearing. That's a strange series of
events there. But the whole reason I read his story
is because he looks nice. I mean, he looks like
a nice guy. He's a big, old muscle bound guy.
(07:56):
But I'm looking at his face. I've never seen a
friendly mugshot like that before.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Are Yeah, it's a it's an interesting story there. He uh,
you know, had committed some crimes there and he got,
he got put on community control, and what happened is
the court terminated him. And you know, do you have
victim rights now in Ohio under Marcy's Law, and the
victim needed to be notified and have an opportunity to
(08:22):
say their piece in front of the court. We litigated that.
We took it to our Court of Appeals and they
agreed with us and sent it back and said, you know,
before you terminate somebody's community control, you have to allow
the victim an opportunity to be heard. And when the
judge heard the victim at the at the hearing, then
you know he had a different approach to that. He
(08:42):
was mister Gators was placed back on community control as
we believe he should have been.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
So from from your from your perspective, everything worked out
as it should in the end. It's just a I
don't know, just a strange turn of events there. Yeah,
I just I don't know. I always speak very highly
of you, just because the efficient see the openness and
so forth that I see coming out of your office
is something that I truly wish we had all across
(09:08):
the state of Ohio, if not the country. And maybe
it's just because I live here in Franklin County, and
I'm continually shaking my head and wondering where justice is
hiding most of the time. Maybe that's why I look
at your office and what you're doing out there with
such regard, and I just I always like to bring
you on just to let you know that you appreciate it,
(09:30):
Your efforts are appreciated, and they go notice by at
least me.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Well, I can tell you that my staff is certainly aware.
They certainly appreciate it, as do the law enforcement officers
that are involved, so they're appreciative as well. So I'd
like to express thank you from all of us to
you for.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Acknowledging that in a moment of extreme seriousness here my
condolences to you, your office, everybody there. With the loss
of Jesse Hathaway, I did not even know that Jesse
was my He was the one who built the bridge
between this show in your office, and I was emailing
and calling, hey, Jesse, Hey, Jesse, I need to get
(10:06):
rod on what's going on. I wasn't hearing anything, and
then found out that he had, unfortunately a very very
young age, passed away right there at his birthday too,
which was so very sad, but I know that he
was really working on building up those connections for the
office and making sure that we got word of what
you were doing out there. And just again my sincere condolences.
(10:28):
He's lost a good guy. We didn't.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
We appreciate that very much.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Thank you, all right, Ron Welch. He is the prosecutor
in Muskingham County where justice actually gets done quickly, effectively
and repeatedly, and dog got it. You're welcome here anytime, Rod.
I appreciate your time tonight, all right, thank you. You
take care of yourself.
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