Former EL resource officer sentenced

LISBON -- A judge ordered former East Liverpool school resource officer Shawn Long to serve 89 days in jail as part of his punishment for sending an inappropriate photo of his private parts to a teen girl in 2020.

Retired Judge Edward O'Farrell issued the sentence Thursday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, noting that when Long addressed the court, he said he made a mistake.

"I would characterize it as a colossal blunder on your part Mr. Long," O'Farrell said, calling the decision Long made as "so ill-advised."

Long, 51, East Liverpool, entered a guilty plea in December to the fifth-degree felony charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.

O'Farrell placed Long on probation under community control sanctions for two years, ordering the jail time as a residential sanction of 90 days with credit for one day served.

He also ordered him to complete 250 hours of community service, to pay restitution of $1,000 to reimburse the victim for her phone and computer that were taken for the investigation, and ordered him to have no alcohol, not visit any bars, have no contact with the victim or her family and no contact with social media while under community control.

O'Farrell said he would set a date for Long to report to the jail as part of his written sentencing entry. Long's defense attorney Chris Amato asked for work release for his client while he's in jail, saying he's already lost his job as a police officer as a result of all this, but he is currently employed. The judge said he would consider it and write his decision in the entry.

After the hearing, Amato admitted the jail sentence caught him off guard considering his client had no previous criminal record and a very low risk assessment. He said the judge followed the sentencing guidelines, noting this was not a sex case, so Long doesn't have to report or register as a sex offender.

In speaking to the judge about Long, he said he has a full-time job, he has his family, five children, and has no previous criminal record.

"He understands what he did was wrong. He made a mistake," Amato said.

Long started his address to the court by saying it's been a long four years.

"First and foremost, I'd like to apologize," he said.

He offered his apology to the victim and her family, to his own family, to the East Liverpool Police Department, to the East Liverpool City Schools and to everyone. He said the police department has a lot of good guys working there.

"It's my mistake I made. I made a bad judgment," he said.

O'Farrell was assigned to handle the case since the county Common Pleas Court judges recused themselves, as did the prosecutor's office. The state was represented by special prosecutors Ohio Assistant Attorney General William Walton II and Ohio Assistant Attorney General Kara Keating.

"A protector who morphs into a predator has no business being around young impressionable children," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a press release. "This man dishonored the badge and forfeited the right to serve in such a position of authority."

Yost noted that the felony conviction bars Long from working as a police officer in Ohio. Long had been with the East Liverpool Police Department since March 1997, over 24 years. His last assignment had been school resource officer at East Liverpool High School. He was placed on paid administrative leave in April 2020 while under investigation for alleged inappropriate behavior.

After being off the job for nearly a year, Long resigned effective March 30, 2021.

According to the press release from the Ohio Attorney General, "Evidence showed that Long messaged the 17-year-old girl multiple times on Facebook in 2020, sending her a photo of his genitals and expressing his desire to have sex with her. At the time, Long worked as a school resource officer at the high school in East Liverpool attended by the girl."

The victim, who's now an adult, did not attend the hearing, but Walton advised the judge she had been contacted and provided a victim impact statement, which the judge also said he had read.

During the hearing, O'Farrell explained there was a negotiated plea agreement and a pre-sentence investigation completed by the Adult Probation Department. He said there were some unusual aspects of this case, particularly that the charge as defined by Ohio law, does not make this a sex case. He explained the sentencing guidelines that must be followed. He said there's a presumption that a judge not sentence men or women guilty of this kind of case and other fifth-degree felonies to prison. He explained the idea of sentencing is to punish the offender and to deter future criminal behavior.

He said the sentence would be fair and just to Long, fair and just to the victim and fair and just to the community. During the plea hearing in December, O'Farrell said the charge carried a possible minimum six months in prison to a maximum 12 months, but there was no mandatory prison sentence required.

For the victim and her family, O'Farrell said "my hope is they're going to be able to move past this. I wish the same for you and your family Mr. Long."

Long was also accompanied by his family and defense attorney Frank Williams. Also in the courtroom were several members of River Valley Organizing, who staged a silent protest outside the Columbiana Courthouse in downtown Lisbon prior to Long's hearing.

One of the members, Nick Gough, commented "we're here to make sure he gets a sentence, not probation."

"He abused his power as an officer at the school for many, many years," Gough said.

Members of the group hoisted signs and wore shirts with the term "chomo" on them, explaining that the term is slang for child molester. Long, though, was not charged with any type of sex crime. He was charged for sending an improper photo to a juvenile.