LEBANON — An area man accused of taking $100,000 from local organizations and fleeing the state was released on his own recognizance last week pending his trial. However a Warren County Common Pleas judge changed that on Wednesday.
Ernest David Collins, 55, formerly of Lebanon and who is living in Franklin Twp., is now free under a $100,000 bond that was set by Judge James Flannery.
Collins, who is accused of bilking $100,000 over three years from three nonprofit conservation organizations, entered a not guilty plea during his July 22 arraignment in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
The Warren County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion late last Friday seeking the bond revocation after they became aware of the situation.
The former part-time employee of the Miami Valley Resource Conservation and Development District is charged with aggravated theft and 16 counts of forgery.
Magistrate Andrew Hasselbach released Collins on his own recognizance based on the information available at the time of the arraignment hearing.
The prosecutor’s motion said Hasselbach “was not aware of provided information that could have affected the outcome of the arraignment hearing.”
Prosecutor David Fornshell said this “is something that should never have happened.”
He said the investigation revealed there was a breakdown in the collective process with several departments working together.
“It also revealed deficiencies in some long standing practices in Warren County,” he said. “We’ve developed procedures and backup procedures to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
A pretrial hearing is set for 9 a.m. July 19.
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504 or erichter@coxohio.com.
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