By Shannon Gilchrist, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – The Franklin County sheriff has fired a deputy who worked as a school resource officer after what was described as an inappropriate incident involving a girl at South-Western’s Westland High School.
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Deputy Chris Cuccio, 32, who had been with the sheriff’s department for 11 years, was fired on Friday, said Marc Gofstein, spokesman for Sheriff Dallas Baldwin. At a Monday press briefing, Gofstein refused to say what happened with the female student other than what was uncovered by the sheriff office’s investigation over the past five weeks led to the deputy’s firing.
“There was information in various forms that led us to that decision,” Gofstein said. County prosecutors examined the case and found no criminal offense, he said.
Gofstein said later that Cuccio refused repeated attempts by the department to get his side of the story.
South-Western schools officials called the sheriff’s office on April 7 about a situation they said occurred between the deputy and a female Westland student. The deputy was pulled from the high school immediately and the office opened an investigation, Gofstein said.
The district and the sheriff’s office publicly disclosed the incident nearly a month later, on May 3, saying that the deputy had been put on unpaid leave.
“It is an ongoing investigation,” Gofstein said at the time. “Out of respect to the student and the deputy, we will not say what it involves.”