Sandusky County Prosecutor (SCP) Tim Braun was suspended Tuesday by Sandusky County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeremiah Ray, according to the Toledo Blade. In December, Braun pleaded guilty to negligent assault of a female co-worker.
Ray mandated Braun be suspended because of his guilty plea and the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Braun will continue to receive his $140,000 salary through June as part of his plea deal.
Braun’s supsension comes a day after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a complaint seeking the prosecutor’s dismissal. A January 22 hearing will be held on Yost’s permanent removal complaint, the Blade reports.
“Braun’s pattern of misconduct towards his female subordinates, his criminal investigation into the missing personnel files, his seizure of his female subordinates’ private cell phone records, and his conviction of Negligent Assault on his female subordinate together demonstrate that he committed gross neglect of duty, gross immorality, misfeasance, malfeasance, and/or nonfeasance and is therefore guilty of misconduct in office and should be removed from office,” the complaint says.
An investigation into Braun’s workplace behavior by the Ohio Attorney Generals’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation found he acted inappropriate around female co-workers. Some of the inappropriate actions included touching a woman’s breast; giving back rubs to female staff subordinates; giving sexual advise to a female co-worker subordinate; and making unwanted comments toward a female subordinate.
“Almost from the beginning, Braun engaged in a pattern of physical and psychological abuse, fear and intimidation of female subordinates for his own personal, prurient interests,” the complant reads.
The filing says Braun being the SCP is a harm to “public welfare.”
As a result of Braun’s guilty plea last month, he is prohibited from being in the Sandusky County courthouse and at the prosectuor’s office except once every ninety days. This means that he has been “rendered unable to perform his official duties imposed upon him by law.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the Sandusky County GOP have called on Braun to resign. Braun, himself, has not spoken publicly on this topic.
People elected Braun to the SCP position in 2017, and his official term goes till 2021. However, he has been given till June 30 to resign.
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Photo “Tim Braun” by Resign Now: No Plea Deal For Braun.
