By Martha Jacob –
Georgetown Police Chief Robert Freeland, spoke briefly to members of Georgetown Village Council during its June 8 meeting.
He took the opportunity to introduce his department’s newest part-time officer, Officer Brittany Stamper who was sworn in at the meeting.
“Officer Stamper has just begun her field training with us and will hopefully be ready to go to work within the month. She has been an officer since 2010 and worked with the Seaman Police Department and the West Union Police Department. She seems excited and ready to get to work and we’re excited to have her in our department,” Freeland said.
In the past few weeks, Freeland also hired two other part-time officers including Officer Jesse Green and Officer Jonathan Pullin. “These new part-time officers were very much needed,” he said, “as our officers have and are retiring. This will allow the full-time officers to utilize their vacation and comp-time, which has been difficult for them to do.”
Chief Freeland also told council that a new 2016 Dodge Charger cruiser for his department had been ordered earlier this year had finally arrived.
“This Charger is equipped with a V6 to help cut back on fuel consumption,” Freeland said. “But it still has plenty of horsepower to get the job done. We expect to put it into service immediately. Our first V6 purchase is now four years old and continues to run strong with minimal maintenance costs.”
Freeland reported to council that earlier in the year he had talked about several subjects who had moved into an elderly local woman’s home and stole from her for several weeks.
“About a week later,” Freeland said, “one of those subjects, Trent Skeene, was picked up by Clermont County deputies. During that arrest, Deputy Sheriff William Brewer was struck by a passing vehicle on St. Rt. 125.
“On Monday, June 6, Skeen was sentenced to 18 and a half years in prison by the Clermont County Common Pleas Judge. Now, Skeene will face his crimes here in Brown County as well.”
Freeland said that Skeene faces 3 counts of receiving stolen property (F5), 2 counts of forgery (F5) 2 possession of drugs counts (F5) and 1 count of forgery (F5).
“It is both scary and a shame that someone of only 18 years of age, has already managed to commit such serious and repetitive crimes,” Chief Freeland said while shaking his head.
Chief Freeland also told council about a couple who stole some decorative stones in the flower bed located at the Brown County Human Services building but were recorded by surveillance cameras. Both subjects were located the next day, charged with theft and the stones were returned.
