Two former Columbus Police Department officers have been given suspended sentences by a special judge after pleading guilty to ghost employment.
Dan Meister, 47, 952 Jackson St., Hope and Ron May, 59, 8015 S. County Road 875W, Columbus were originally charged with official misconduct, ghost employment and theft as Level 6 felonies.
Both work a second job providing security at Columbus Regional Hospital while clocked in as city officers. Meister is accused of overlapped hours worked on 52 separate occasions, while May is accused of overlapped hours on 62 separate occasions between Jan. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2018, according to a State Board of Accounts audit.
In Bartholomew Circuit Court Wednesday, special judge Richard W. Poynter of Brownstown allowed both May and Meister to plead guilty to only one charge: ghost employment. In exchange, the two other felony charges were dropped by special prosecutor Jeff Chalfant of Jackson County.
Poynter then agreed to convert the ghost employment felony charge to a Class A misdemeanor for both defendants before he ordered that they serve suspended one-year sentences.
If convicted of all three original felony charges, both May and Meister could have been sentenced to each serve a maximum of 7.5 years behind bars, as well as face fines of up to $30,000.
Instead, both men were ordered to be placed under supervised probation until it can be verified that they have paid all restitution, court costs and fines, Poynter said.
For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic
