O'Connell conviction a victory for families

Other families victimized by disgraced former detective Sean O'Connell aren't necessarily celebrating the deal he made in court on July 30. We can understand their disappointment that he was convicted of just one felony charge — tampering with evidence — related only to his handling of the Heather Bogle homicide investigation.He reached a plea deal to drop seven other charges, which together, if he'd been convicted of all of them, could have sent him to prison for 12 years. The maximum penalty O'Connell can get for the lone charge he was convicted on is three years.We fully understand why others the corrupt detective hurt might be disappointed in the single charge, and why they want to see him get the max when he's sentenced Sept. 13. We share that view.But O'Connell is now a convicted felon. He will spend the rest of his life as a convicted felon. Henry County Prosecutor Heather Howe-Gebers, the special prosecutor against O'Connell, took a job others refused to take. She took it on for the Bogle family, and for the other families O'Connell harmed. Those families and the community at large are indebted to her for agreeing to go where nobody else would, and for succeeding in convicting O'Connell.The pain of losing a loved one is so intense to begin with, and that intensity ratcheted up tenfold when our justice system failed to function responsibly. O'Connell's callous arrogance and indifference to so many families suffering losses went on for years unabated. It wasn't until Chris Hilton was elected sheriff, and Tim Braun was elected prosecutor, that his reign of terror was ended. They saw the problem and worked to end it, and end O'Connell's law enforcement career, permanently.But make no mistake: The Heather Bogle homicide investigation was just one of many criminal investigations that O'Connell mishandled, botched or sabotaged, denying the opportunity for justice to so many.Jess Burdine recounted how O'Connell assured him he would conduct "a thorough investigation" of his son Craig Burdine's 2007 violent death inside the Sandusky County jail. But in the detective's own sworn court testimony years later, he said he wasn't concerned at all with how Craig died, or what caused his death. A jail guard used a Taser on Craig Burdine while he was still handcuffed and shackled, unconscious or barely conscious. But that wasn't his problem, O'Connell testified.O'Connell told Mike "Big Mike" Limberios his son Jacob was the victim of a homicide and then changed his mind with no explanation, dragging the family through a long and painful ordeal that was entirely unnecessary.O'Connell did not conduct a credible investigation into the mysterious death of Lee Naus in 1999; he did not conduct a credible investigation of former state Trooper Sgt. Ricky Vitte Jr. and his sexual involvement with a child; he did not conduct a credible investigation of the county's chief dispatcher and his on-the-job opioid addiction; he did not conduct any investigation of the sheriff's raging opioid addiction.The detective, a convicted felon now, also did not conduct a credible investigation and might have manufactured evidence against Greg Armbruster, the victim in a road rage incident; and he did not conduct a credible investigation and might have manufactured evidence against Patrick Baker Sr. for a burglary Baker did not commit.If those families had not stood up against O'Connell's wrongdoing, spoke out, shared their painful stories and bared their souls when they did, it's entirely possible O'Connell would be sheriff today. That's what he wanted, that's what he was attempting to accomplish. If they had not stood against him, the outcome could have been so different than it is.O'Connell's conviction — even though it was a plea deal — is a good thing, we say, and the community has those families to thank for righting a terrible wrong in our community, and restoring the opportunity for justice, for all.Former Sandusky County sheriff's detective Sean O'Connell pleads guilty to one count of felony tampering with evidence on Monday, July 30, 2018, at Sandusky County Common Pleas Court.