Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated the degree of one of the charges against Charles Reader. He faces first-degree misdemeanor theft.

Charles Reader was indicted Friday on more than a dozen charges stemming from allegations that the Pike County sheriff stole cash seized from cases handled by his office.

Reader faces eight felonies and eight misdemeanors.

Reader was accused in November of stealing cash seized from drug cases handled by the sheriff's office to fund a gambling problem. An anonymous source made the allegation in a complaint that was forwarded to the Ohio Auditor’s Office.

Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk requested a special prosecutor in Reader's case, which was investigated by the Ohio Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit, Junk said last month amid a dispute with Reader on Facebook.

Reader lamented then past cuts to his staff and budget cuts to the sheriff's office.

He later removed the posts and issued a follow-up statement that read, in part:

"This is nothing more than a political witch hunt, where the prosecutor is attempting to do everything in his power to 'sink my boat,' " Reader wrote.

His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

Ohio Auditor Keith Faber said in a statement that the substance of the investigation into Reader ended with "serious results."

"It is our job to hold public officials accountable and root out fraud, waste, and abuse in our communities," Faber said. "We do not take these charges lightly and recognize that no one is above the law. While this is a major step toward seeking justice, our team is fully prepared to present these findings to a jury as this matter moves forward."

A Pike County grand jury returned the 16-count indictment Friday morning. The indictment further details the allegations facing Reader, which include:

Two counts of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony

Four counts of theft in office, three are fourth-degree felonies and one is a fifth-degree felony

Seven counts of conflict of interest, a first-degree misdemeanor

One count of securing writing by deception, a fifth-degree felony

Two counts of theft - one is a fifth-degree felony and the other is a first-degree misdemeanor

A Pike County Sheriff's Office spokesman issued a brief statement following the announcement of the criminal charges, stating Reader and his staff had no comment.

The statement added that the sheriff's office "would like to ensure the public that the office will continue to provide their normal law enforcement services to the public without interruption."

Reader's criminal case could have a deleterious effect on the prosecution of four members of the Wagner family charged in the Rhoden family massacre, according to legal experts.

"It all comes down to how much he did in that investigation," said Mike Allen, a former top prosecutor of Hamilton County. Allen earlier said he suspected Reader played more than an ancillary role, considering the relatively small size of the Pike County Sheriff's Office.

George “Billy” Wagner, 47; his wife, Angela Wagner, 48; and their two children, George Wagner IV, 27, and Edward “Jake” Wagner, 26, were arrested and charged last fall. The charges were the result of the largest homicide investigation in Ohio history.

The Wagners are accused of killing eight members of the Rhoden family. Officials have said they were motivated by custody of the child of Jake Wagner and one of the victims, 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden.

More:Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader charged. What happens next?

"If he (Reader) was intimately involved in (the investigation of the massacre) – with respect to questioning witnesses, taking evidence – that’s a problem," Allen said.

But in a statement, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Reader's indictment "will have no impact on the Wagner capital murder cases, as Sheriff Reader was not the primary witness for any issue of fact or law."

However, criminal justice experts agree that should Reader be convicted of wrongdoing, it could pose a serious obstacle to the prosecution of the Wagners.

If defense attorneys make a strong case that Reader's credibility is tainted by his potential conviction, "that could give jurors reason to pause and give reasonable doubt," David Singleton, a law professor at Northern Kentucky University and the executive director of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center, earlier told The Enquirer. "It's possible it could make a difference."

More:Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader charged. What happens next?

More:Will charges against Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader impact the Rhoden case?

Singleton and other experts stressed that Reader's role in investigating the killings will influence how and whether his own criminal case comes up at the Wagners' trials.

They also stressed that many questions must be answered before the influence, if any, that Reader's alleged wrongdoing has on the Wagner prosecution becomes clear.

A defense attorney, Singleton said, could argue that Reader botched the investigation by rushing through it in order to "shift suspicion away from himself." The Rhoden killings were high-profile and garnered the attention of top law enforcement officials in the state as well as extensive media coverage.

If Reader was a key investigator on the case, which was handled by his sheriff's office and the state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, it's likely a judge would allow Reader's criminal troubles to be aired at trial before jurors, Singleton said.

He likened such a scenario to the O.J. Simpson trial. Then, Det. Mark Fuhrman, who found crucial evidence in the case, was branded by the defense as a racist. Tapes were played of him using the N-word after he denied he’d said it.

Even if Reader didn't play a significant role in the investigation, his criminal case could still come up in the Wagner cases, said Jean Peters Baker, the top prosecutor of Jackson County in Missouri, a jurisdiction that includes Kansas City.

But in that event, the prosecution may cut Reader's investigative contribution entirely from the case against the Wagners, Peters Baker said.

But if Reader's history does come up at trial, it won't necessarily be a death blow to the state's case against the Wagners.

"Officers are human beings like everybody else," Peters Baker said. "Sometimes juries can weigh it out and decide what kind of credence they want to give."

More:Pike County Facebook tirades reveal concerns about sheriff's credibility in court

Reader's indictment raises questions about the future of his role as a sheriff.

Ohio law outlines the process for suspending public officials charged with felony crimes "relating to official conduct."

A different section of the law outlines the removal of public officials accused more generally of misconduct. Removal is initiated by a complaint that must be signed by at least 15 percent of voters in the most recent governor's election within the jurisdiction in question, in Reader's case, Pike County. For sheriffs, a governor's signature on the complaint can bypass the need for citizen signatures, the law states.

Dan Tierney, spokesman for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, said the office has not yet reviewed the indictment to determine if the statute would be appropriate, though Tierney acknowledged it "could apply in this sort of case."

DeWine, as attorney general, assisted Reader in the investigation of the Rhoden family massacre.

Tierney said the statute regarding suspensions of public officials is more apt in this case.

More:Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader charged. What happens next?

That law went into effect in 2005. The first sheriff suspended under the statute was former Shelby County Sheriff Dean Kimpel, in 2012, followed by Kelly in 2014.

Former Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly was suspended before being convicted of 17 felonies in 2015, according to The Athens News.

Athens County sought $85,000 in reparations for salary and benefits paid to Kelly or on his behalf while he was suspended, The News reported. The county eventually settled for about a tenth of that amount.

Months before Kelly was sentenced after pleading guilty to 14 criminal charges including misuse of public funds, Kyle Overmyer was suspended as sheriff of Sandusky County.

Overmyer pleaded guilty in 2016 to felony counts of theft in office, theft of drug take-back boxes and deception of physicians to obtain prescription pain medication.

He was sentenced to four years in prison.

Allen, the former top prosecutor of Hamilton County, added that Reader may voluntarily relinquish his police powers as a result of the charges.

"How are you going to function if the chief law enforcement officer of a county is under indictment?" he said. "I can’t imagine he’d continue in that position."

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Sarah Brookbank contributed.