Delaware County, Ohio, recently settled two lawsuits that were filed in 2007. A former sheriff had filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit against the county, a county commissioner and the man that succeeded the sheriff as interim sheriff. In the other lawsuit, a former deputy sought $1.5 million for a claim of racial discrimination. Details of the two settlements were not made available.

The defamation claim arose in June, 2007 based upon a press release issued by the interim sheriff. The press release alleged that the former sheriff left images depicting "horrific" images of child pornography on his computer when he resigned his position. The press release was sent to local media outlets announcing the matter was under criminal investigation. The former sheriff was cleared of wrongdoing and in August, 2007 he filed a claim for defamation in Ohio state court.

In February, 2007, an African-American deputy filed a complaint with the Ohio Civil rights Commission alleging that he was punished more strictly for violating an inter-office policy than white deputies who violated the policy. At the time he was the only African-American deputy in the office. There were roughly 40 white deputies. In November of that year he filed a race discrimination claim in Ohio court alleging discrimination and retaliation.

The discrimination claim in the lawsuit was based upon the disparate disciplinary treatment he reportedly received. In the lawsuit he further alleged that after filing the civil rights complaint, he received derogatory racial messages from staff members in the office. The lawsuit also alleged that the sheriff retaliated against him for filing a complaint with the Civil Rights Commission.

Source: Delaware Gazette, "County settles sheriff lawsuits," Andrew Tobias, 24 Sep 2010