opinion

Opinion: Senator's complaint reflects anger about Tracie Hunter

I have thick skin and do not typically respond to guest editorials, but I must respond to Cecil Thomas’ Jan. 22 opinion piece given that it is a complete and total lie. Thomas’ piece is about more than forfeiture funds. This is about his friend Tracie Hunter. He has a misplaced animosity with my office over the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas appointment of special counsel and their prosecution and conviction of Hunter.

However, I want to set the record straight. Not one penny of Law Enforcement Trust Fund money (“LETF”) has ever been spent “on my own personal expenses” as Thomas falsely states. If I used LETF funds on “my own personal expenses,” that would be a felony offense.

Under Ohio law, money confiscated as a result of criminal activity is distributed to various law enforcement agencies and my office has control of a portion of these funds (20 percent) under LETF. This fund, which is established by state statute and audited by the state auditor’s office, allows for the good guys to make use of the bad guys' money to help fund drug programs or pay for legitimate office expenses that would otherwise be paid by hardworking taxpayers.

Thomas is shocked that we used some of the LETF funds to pay $15,000 for 100 briefcases for my assistant prosecutors, $61,000 to pay for over 2 ½ years of employee parking or $14,600 for office furniture. These are all legitimate office expenses. My assistants use basic vinyl roller briefcases, which are rarely replaced, every day to transport and protect the numerous important documents and pieces of evidence that we take to the various courthouses where we prosecute cases. Some of the courthouses where we appear are several blocks from our office.

Parking and office furniture are also basic expenses necessary to keep the office running. Let me assure you that our office furniture would be described as basic at best and is about 20 years old with no replacements in sight. The only major furniture purchase in those 20 years was for our two grand jury courtrooms because the furniture was in poor condition and could not be repaired. This furniture is used daily by the public who serve as grand jurors.

Although we could use general fund dollars for these legitimate office expenses, the county has asked that we (legally) use some drug funds for those costs.

We have a drug problem. Toward that end, I too, speak with many people about the issue and agree that we must support programs and organizations working toward a solution. I take my responsibility seriously as custodian of the LETF funds and strive to make informed decisions when donating to direct treatment programs or organizations that promote an anti-drug lifestyle to educate and keep children off drugs. In the last three years, my office made LETF donations to either direct treatment programs or organizations promoting a drug-free lifestyle in the amount of:

2015: $113,350

2016: $124,140

2017: $149,000

Some of the programs and organizations that we donated to include: Crime Stoppers, The Marvin Lewis Fund, Boy Scouts of America, Center for Addiction Treatment, Xavier University (specific grant for heroin research to create an app to help heroin addicts) and various local schools and churches.

Thomas states, “An appropriate and responsible use of these funds would be supporting law enforcement, helping counteract crime and combating drug addiction.” We accomplish all three goals – LETF money supports your law enforcement prosecutors who prosecute drug cases every day and significant donations are made to multiple organizations that combat crime and drug addiction.

I will continue to work hard to help solve the drug problem in Hamilton County. I would urge Thomas to do the same.

Joe Deters is the Hamilton County prosecutor.