Updated: Hastings goes in for mugshot, fingerprints

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Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings went to the Highland County Justice Center on Sunday afternoon to be fingerprinted and photographed in connection with indictments handed down against him earlier this month by a Highland County grand jury.

At the justice center, Hastings listed his address as 107 W. Beech St., his Hillsboro residence. The indictments filed against Hastings by special prosecutor Robert F. Smith on July 12 in common pleas court list the mayor’s address as 4710 Caleb Hill Rd., which is his farmhouse outside of town.

The different addresses will be significant in the case against the mayor, since one of the charges pursued by Smith, who is with the office of Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, is election falsification, based on Hastings using the Beech Street address on his Declaration of Candidacy when he filed for re-election last year in the Republican primary. The Beech Street address is also on file with Hastings’ voter registration record.

In an effort to collect evidence supporting the claim that the Beech Street address is not Hastings’ residence, investigators last February issued a late-night search warrant at that address. Hastings’s father-in-law, who was visiting at the time, was ordered out of the house while investigators photographed and made notes of clothing, appliances, children’s toys and other items.

An affidavit supporting the warrant said that investigators had also collected bills to compare water usage at the different addresses.

Hastings was also indicted for theft, theft in office and tampering with records. All the charges are felonies.

Yost said in a press release shortly after indictments were returned that the charges are based on the mayor “allegedly listing a false address on his Declaration of Candidacy form; for claiming a city refund of $500 for a vacant building he owned and for altering documents related to the refund, and; for instructing a contractor to use city dumpsters to dispose of construction debris.”

Hastings is listed in indictments and voter records as “W Drew Hastings.” In fact, “W” is Hastings’ legal first name and is not an initial.

Hastings will be arraigned at 11 a.m. Aug. 1 before Judge Patricia Ann Cosgrove, who was assigned the case after Judge Rocky Coss recused himself. Hastings is represented by attorney James Boulger of Chillicothe.

This mugshot of Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings was taken Sunday afternoon when Hastings showed up at the Highland County Justice Center to comply with the requirements associated with indictments handed down against him earlier this month.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2016/07/web1_Hastings-Drew-mugshot-2.jpgThis mugshot of Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings was taken Sunday afternoon when Hastings showed up at the Highland County Justice Center to comply with the requirements associated with indictments handed down against him earlier this month.

By Gary Abernathy

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