Ex-sheriff Crish seeks reduction in federal prison sentence
Jan. 16—TOLEDO — Former Allen County Sheriff Sam Crish, having served four years of an 11-year federal prison sentence for bribery and extortion, has formally requested his sentence be reduced.
Citing changes made to the U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines since his 2019 sentencing, Crish late last year submitted a motion in the U.S. District Court of Northern Ohio in Toledo which, if approved, would reduce his prison term to 97 months (approximately eight years) from his current 136-month sentence. He's currently scheduled for release in July 2028.
In a supplement to the motion filed pro se by Crish on Nov. 27, an attorney with the Office of the Federal Public Defender's office said the request falls within legal guidelines.
Krysten Beech, in a supplemental motion filed Jan. 8, said amendments to federal sentencing guidelines allow a "two-level reduction for zero-point offenders and applies retroactively." Because Crish had no criminal history when he was sentenced, he is eligible for the reduced sentence, Beech wrote.
U.S. District Court Judge James Carr has yet to rule on the motion.
Crish served eight years as Allen County's sheriff and was elected three times.
A fall from grace
Crish was sentenced Sept. 26, 2019, to 136 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of extortion, two counts of accepting bribes and one count of making a false statement. He was also ordered to pay more than $600,000 in restitution to the victims in his case.
Now 60 years of age, the former sheriff admitted taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from people arrested in prostitution stings and also to allegations that he hired a woman as a nurse at the Allen County jail based solely on the fact that she made interest-free loans to him totaling more than $22,000.
The federal indictment also alleged dealings between Crish and five separate Allen County residents who reportedly gave him cash in exchange for special considerations and illegal police protection.
Crish told authorities that massive gambling debts were at the root of the federal charges against him.
He began his prison sentence in a Bureau of Prisons' McDowell Camp in Welch, West Virginia, and is currently housed in the SPC Memphis facility in Millington, Tenn.
Crish, in his motion for a reduction of sentence, describes the Tennessee prison as a "camp without a perimeter fence in which inmates work in the community unsupervised." The prison, according to Crish's motion, "is reserved for only the most harmless of inmates."
Prisoners in federal custody can also earn up to 54 days per year of "good time" credit for exemplary compliance with institutional disciplinary regulations, according to the BOP website.
