IAPE Evidence Blog

The Cincin­nati Enquirer (Ohio)
BYLINE: Jen­nifer Baker

Felic­ity, OH

FELICITY — A vet­eran police cap­tain fac­ing up to five years in prison if he’s found guilty of a drug-related charge of tam­per­ing with evi­dence was released from the Cler­mont County jail on $100,000 pro­fes­sional bond Friday.

Del­mas Gee Pack, 42, was effec­tively stripped of his police pow­ers when he appeared ear­lier in Cler­mont County Munic­i­pal Court.

Judge James R. Shriver pro­hib­ited the 16-year law enforce­ment offi­cial from pos­sess­ing any weapons while the crim­i­nal case is pending.

Pack is sched­uled to return to Cler­mont Munic­i­pal Court for a pre­lim­i­nary hear­ing Aug. 5. At that time, more details of what he is accused of doing might be released.

So far, author­i­ties have been mum on why Pack was arrested at the Felic­ity police sta­tion Thurs­day and charged with mis­de­meanor tam­per­ing with evi­dence in a multi-agency investigation.

Cler­mont County Sher­iff A. J. “Tim” Roden­berg and Cmdr. John Burke of the War­ren County Drug Task Force referred ques­tions Fri­day to the Cler­mont County Prosecutor’s Office. Pros­e­cu­tor Don White and Assis­tant Pros­e­cu­tor Woody Breyer did not return mul­ti­ple calls.

Pack also did not respond to a mes­sage for com­ment left at his New Rich­mond home.

Sev­eral of his rel­a­tives attended his arraign­ment but declined to talk with reporters.

Pack appeared hand­cuffed and wear­ing an orange jail uni­form as he faced the judge. He expressed sur­prise when his bond was set so high.

Felic­ity Police Chief Ray Hes­ler attended the brief hear­ing and spoke pri­vately with Pack’s fam­ily afterward.

In an inter­view at the Felic­ity police sta­tion later, he noted that some accused mur­ders in Cler­mont County aren’t given such high bonds.

“It just blows my mind,” he said.

The dis­mayed chief said he was shocked when sev­eral inves­ti­ga­tors arrived to take Pack into cus­tody Thursday.

His arrest came after an inves­ti­ga­tion by the Cler­mont County Nar­cotics Unit, which is over­seen by the sher­iff, the Ohio Bureau of Crim­i­nal Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion and Inves­ti­ga­tion, the county prosecutor’s office and the War­ren County Drug Task Force.

The sheriff’s office has received sev­eral com­plaints in past years regard­ing the con­fis­ca­tion of con­tra­band drugs that were not turned over to the prop­erty room, author­i­ties have said.

Pack, Hes­ler said, is accused of tak­ing evi­dence, but Hes­ler refused to elab­o­rate on what kind.

“They set him up in a sting oper­a­tion,” the chief said. “They are say­ing he took some evi­dence. There is a lot I think about it, but I just can’t say it. It will cause me a lot of trouble.”

It is likely that Pack, who works about 30 hours a week at the police depart­ment earn­ing $12 an hour, will be placed on unpaid leave, Hes­ler said. The chief expects to dis­cuss that with the Felic­ity City Coun­cil at its next meet­ing Thursday.

Felicity’s mayor did not return a call for com­ment Friday.

Hes­ler is the only full-time sworn offi­cer on the depart­ment that patrols the tiny vil­lage of 932 peo­ple cov­er­ing 0.3 square miles along Ohio 133. There are 11 part-time officers.

The chief said he thinks Pack is the vic­tim of com­plaints because he comes down hard on offenders.

“I have known this guy since he was knee-high,” Hes­ler said of Pack. “He is an aggres­sive offi­cer and a lot of peo­ple hate him because he is.”

Just last week, the chief said, Pack was respon­si­ble for cap­tur­ing two armed men who barged into a Wash­ing­ton Town­ship home and stole cash, cell phones and sev­eral bags of marijuana.

Pack stopped the sus­pects’ vehi­cle and found the drugs and cloth­ing iden­ti­cal to what was worn dur­ing the home invasion.

“They would not have caught the guys oth­er­wise, I can guar­an­tee it,” Hes­ler said. “He saw them com­ing over the guardrail.”

Reac­tion to Pack’s arrest was mixed Fri­day among res­i­dents out and about in down­town Felic­ity dur­ing lunchtime.

“I bet there’s a lot of peo­ple sur­prised,” said Linda Tess, 38. “He didn’t seem to be a cop to me. You could talk to him.

The only thing I didn’t like was he didn’t like any­one stand­ing in the street talk­ing. He’d run you off.”

Jamie Clark said he won’t believe the alle­ga­tions against Pack until they are proven in court.

“I think he’s a pretty good guy. He’s one of the friend­liest cops here,” said Clark, 41.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org