Brandon Casler, 36, a former finance director of the Lima-Allen County Regional Planning Commission, was sentenced Friday to two years on probation for illegally using a county credit card for personal use. He was ordered to pay 5,605.73 in restitution to the county agency and perform 200 hours of community service.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — The former finance director of the Lima-Allen County Regional Planning Commission who used agency credit cards for personal use was sentenced Friday to two years of supervised probation, with a 180-day jail sentence hanging over his head.
Brandon Casler, 36, was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $5,605.73 to the county agency and perform 200 hours of community service. The jail term was suspended.
Casler was indicted by an Allen County grand jury in December on charges of one count of theft in office, a fifth-degree felony, and five counts of the misuse of credit cards, all misdemeanors. He entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors which resulted in the dismissal of three of the misdemeanor counts in exchange for a plea of guilty to the remaining charges.
Tara Reynolds-Bales, executive director of the regional planning commission, said she noticed “irregularities” in the agency bookkeeping that “left us in a financial mess” leading up to Casler’s indictment.
“Bills were not getting paid; disconnect notices were arriving. He left us in a terrible situation,” Reynolds-Bales told Judge Terri Kohlrieser. “It was discovered that Mr. Casler had been using the company credit card — taxpayer dollars — for personal uses.”
Court records show that the credit cards were used improperly on or about Dec. 2 and Dec. 14, 2022, and again on April 7, April 23 and May 6 of 2023.
Casler made no statement on his own behalf prior to sentencing, but Kohlrieser noted he had written in a pre-sentence report that the incidents were accidental in nature.
“In the report you said ‘oh, I used the wrong card’ or ‘I must have pushed the wrong button,’” the judge said.
“I’m just not buying it … at all!”
Special Prosecutor Eva Yarger of Van Wert County was assigned to the case to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest by Allen County prosecutors.
