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County inmates take aim at jail camera, connect

LISBON — It took about a week for county jail inmates to vandalize the new camera system.

Felony charges have been filed in county municipal court against three inmates for allegedly causing $2,586 in damage to the camera system on Dec. 8, the same week the $160,852 system was installed.

According to the county sheriff’s office, Chad Brewer threw a piece of clothing over the security camera in post 40, and then he and Robert Barrett lifted up Ignacio Rios so he could reach the camera to break it. The plan might have worked except a hallway camera captured everything that occurred.

Shane Patrone, chief deputy clerk of courts, assisted county commissioners in working with Johnson Controls to procure the new system, which consists of 98 cameras that provide 100 percent video surveillance of the jail building and grounds. It is his understanding the inmates first tried to cover the camera by throwing wet paper towels at it.

“When that didn’t work they took a T-shirt, wet it and threw it on the camera to cover the camera,” Patrone said. “Then they just beat on it until it quit working.”

This particular camera cost $2,586 to replace. The cameras are about 10 feet off the floor, which is why Brewer and Barrett had lift Ignacio if they wanted to get at it.

Brewer, 36, East Lincoln Way, Lisbon, is charged with complicity to vandalism for lifting up Ignacio, a fifth-degree felony, and criminal mischief, a third-degree felony, for tampering with a safety device by throwing a T-shirt over the camera.

Barrett, 34, West Ninth Street, East Liverpool, is charged with complicity to vandalism for lifting up Ignacio, while Ignacio, 27, of Berea, is charged with vandalism, a fifth-degree felony.

The camera system was purchased with $131,250 in state funding and $29,602 in county funds.

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