GLOUSTER, Ohio - Lucas Mace, the police chief in the village of Glouster, has taken an oath to arrest lawbreakers. But a prosecutor said yesterday that Mace instead hid a wanted heroin addict, took her to dinner, lied to authorities about her whereabouts and bedded her.

GLOUSTER, Ohio - Lucas Mace, the police chief in the village of Glouster, has taken an oath to arrest lawbreakers.

But a prosecutor said yesterday that Mace instead hid a wanted heroin addict, took her to dinner, lied to authorities about her whereabouts and bedded her.

An Athens County grand jury indicted Mace yesterday on 12 charges - five of them felonies - and Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn painted a much clearer picture of what he said was "a shameful pattern of wrongdoing" on the chief's part.

"He was basically using his office as a dating service," Blackburn said.

The village council in Glouster, where Mace has been chief since 2012, discussed the situation last night.

After more than an hour of a closed-door meeting, Mayor Miles Wolf announced that Mace has been suspended without pay from his $32,000-a-year job immediately.

Wolf said the suspension will last as long as the criminal case continues. One of the department's part-time officers was appointed acting chief.

The charges filed against Mace yesterday include three felony counts of obstruction of justice, one of theft in office and one of possession of criminal tools. The grand jury also indicted him on seven misdemeanor charges: six counts of dereliction of duty and one of failure to aid a law-enforcement officer.

Mace has declined to comment on the case.

Blackburn said yesterday that the chief was accused in the past of dating women inappropriate to his public position.

The case began on March 28, when Mace went to a traffic crash site. The driver, Hillary Hooper, 23, was suspected of using heroin and was wanted on warrants. But Mace let her go and didn't charge her, saying he would use her as an undercover informant.

Soon after, Wolf heard that the chief not only had let Hooper go but might have started dating her. He alerted Blackburn's office and, in April, an investigation began.

By last Friday, both the Athens County sheriff's office and Perry County officials were looking for Hooper, and the chief knew that, Blackburn said.

Instead of arresting Hooper, however, he took her to a restaurant in Logan on Thursday night and then took her to his home. She went on the run on Friday with Mace's help, Blackburn said, even as authorities closed in on Glouster Village Hall with search warrants.

Mace was arrested, and Hooper turned herself in later. She was in court yesterday on the felony charge of heroin possession but declined to comment.

Blackburn said recorded radio traffic is evidence that Mace knew of the warrants out for Hooper. Mace called her "Softie" because he said "she had the softest skin he'd ever touched," Blackburn said.

But his dating Hooper, Blackburn said, might be the least of anyone's concerns. He said records indicate that Mace hid from the mayor during work time and - while in uniform - went to help Hooper change a car tire.

He also had a hidden camera in his office, which police have taken. Authorities also confiscated Mace's cruiser; a preliminary investigation has uncovered evidence that the chief likely had sex in it, Blackburn said.

"Any time a police officer violates the public trust, it is concerning," Blackburn said. "It's very disappointing."

With the chief suspended, the Athens County sheriff's office said it has stepped up patrols in Glouster - a village of nearly 1,800 people.

The police department has one other full-time officer and two part-timers. The mayor said everyone will work hard now to restore the public's trust.

hzachariah@dispatch.com

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