Ex-deputy charged in 2 Ohio killings — one while on duty

CINCINNATI » A former Ohio deputy has been indicted in two separate fatal shootings — one an on-duty killing involving a fleeing driver and the second an off-duty slaying of the ex-deputy’s neighbor.

Joel Jenkins was indicted Thursday by a grand jury in Waverly in southern Ohio.

The indictment charges him with murder and reckless homicide for his role in the March 28 high-speed pursuit that ended with the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Robert C. Rooker, said Dan Tierney, a spokesman for the Ohio attorney general.

Jenkins also was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide and tampering with evidence in the Dec. 3 fatal shooting of his neighbor Jason Brady, according to Tierney. Brady, 40, was shot inside Jenkins’ Waverly home, investigators said.

The indictment doesn’t provide details of either shooting, and officials didn’t immediately release more information Friday.

A woman answering the phone in the office of an attorney listed in court records for Jenkins said today that he isn’t representing the former deputy. No telephone listing could be found immediately for Jenkins.

Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader has said that he fired Jenkins after Brady’s shooting.

Authorities have said previously that Jenkins and other sheriff’s officers were involved in a high-speed pursuit of Rooker that ended with Rooker’s death. No other indictments are expected in that encounter, Tierney said today. He also said the March shooting was already under investigation when the Dec. 3 shooting occurred.

Reader has said that Jenkins called the sheriff’s office the night of Brady’s shooting and told a dispatcher his gun had misfired and that his neighbor had been shot accidentally.

Jenkins was charged the next day with involuntary manslaughter. He was briefly jailed but posted bond and was released.

Tierney said an arrest warrant for Jenkins was expected to be served today.

Messages seeking additional comment and records in both cases were left today at the Pike County sheriff’s office, the county prosecutor’s office and the state attorney general’s office.

Both the prosecutor and the sheriff recused themselves from the cases involving Jenkins, asking that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation handle the investigation. BCI is under the Ohio attorney general.