A long-serving local public official has admitted to misusing his former public office and has been ordered to repay tens of thousands of dollars after pleading guilty Tuesday, Feb. 28, in Logan County Common Pleas Court to charges of grand theft, a fourth-degree felony; and soliciting or accepting improper compensation, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Ron Furrow, 79, of Quincy, has been ordered to pay $28,168 in restitution and audit costs after admitting he unlawfully pocketed funds that should have gone to Miami Township, where he has served as a trustee since 1982.
Furrow is also barred from holding public office for at least seven years, according to information from the Ohio Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit, which began investigating the case in the latter months of 2021.
Furrow misused his position as sexton of the Fairview Cemetery in Quincy, which is overseen by Miami Township trustees, to illegally pocket money that should have been directed to the township’s coffers.
It was determined that customers had paid Furrow, who oversaw the cemetery’s operation and maintenance for more than a decade, a total of $12,091 when those funds should have been gone to township accounts.
The defendant directed customers paying for headstone footers/foundations, including individuals who prepaid for arrangements, as well as next of kin who purchased footers/foundations on behalf of a loved one, to make payment checks payable to him personally, rather than to Miami Township.
In November of 2021, SIU investigators received a complaint that Furrow had instructed a check for payment of concrete footers installed under a headstone at Fairview Cemetery be made out to him instead of the township.
Furrow’s sentence includes a total of $13,591 in restitution to Miami Township and a separate individual victim, plus $14,577 in audit costs to the Auditor of State’s Office as well as Miami Township.
Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 104 convictions resulting in more than $5 million in restitution. The team receives hundreds of tips of suspected fraud annually. Tips can be submitted anonymously online or via SIU’s fraud hotline at 866-FRAUD-OH (866-372-8364).