Corruption in the Sheriff's Office

It has been known for some time that Boone County Sheriff, Michael Helmig, was brought to justice by Deputy Christine Heckel because she was sexually assaulted at the hands of another deputy who, allegedly (or maybe not allegedly since Helmig was so quick to settle out of court) lifted Heckel's skirt to determine "what kind of underwear she was wearing," and Sheriff Helmig let the incident pass.

That is, until he was slapped with complaint by Ms. Heckel through the EEOC. The complaint was settled for an undisclosed amount of money, and efforts to uncover the source and amount of payment have been delayed due to lack of cooperation from state and federal officials. The investigation continues, and any factual information would be appreciated.

Yesterday, I received a copy of the 2007 Comparative Budget for the Boone County Sheriff's Department. While I can't say with absolute certainty where the money came from that went to Ms. Heckel, a look at line #45 reveals one possibility: It reads "Insurance $1,677,512". However, the budget for 2006 was a mere $62,000. This is a change of $1,615,512. In one year's time.

Why such a change? Well, first of all, there is no way that Helmig settled this lawsuit with personal funds. Secondly, he wouldn't be very smart to go through a lawsuit hoping that insurance would cover the claim. Lawsuits tend to uncover too much and then some, especially when a the defendant is a public official associated with too many people who know way too much.

Ms. Heckel is a very attractive woman who has stated to my spouse that she has suffered harrassment from other men on the force. Although she doesn't look it, Ms. Heckel is nearing retirement and doubtless has enough goods on Helmig to put him behind bars (or wish he were!). In fact, Ms. Heckel said that she "never wanted to work for an elected official" because the environment is too political. During this conversation, Ms. Heckel cited examples of Sheriff Helmig and other deputies refusing to make arrests and follow through with their duties because they didn't want to anger certain families or their relatives.

Last year, Sheriff Helmig (a converted Republican) ran for re-election and won handily despite a race with political newcomer, Mike Steward. Helmig was obviously worried about his chances because he sent out numerous pieces of campaign literature to registered Republicans like myself, and had (last time I looked) campaign support of more than eighty thousand dollars. Why would a sheriff put so much effort into keeping his regime going? Why was he so worried about someone else in his office?

Personally, I wish Mr. Steward had done more to inform voters of the corruption in the Sheriff's Office, but it is difficult to run a campaign against an incumbent, and it probably would have made Steward look worse in the end.

The only thing I can say is that Helmig needs to clean up his act because he has around 160 deputies, and they are well aware of what he is up to. I would think that with so many potential blabbermouths around, Helmig would have taken pains to remain honest and above-board, but it's hard when you are the top dog not to act like one and figure that cover-up is within your power too. Believe me, that's happened recently as well. I just need a little more paperwork before I post.