Special prosecutor appointed
A special prosecutor has been appointed in a case allegedly involving alcohol and juveniles in Marion. Jay Sizemore, McPherson, was appointed Sept. 17, said Marion County Attorney Susan Robson. "I have been looking since Sept. 3, but I couldn't find anyone to take it on," she said Tuesday.
Official logs show that Marion Police Department received a report Aug. 15 of a party that allegedly occurred, according to the police report, between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Aug. 10. According to the report completed by Officer Dean Keyes, and shared with the press, a youth at the party took alcohol from the refrigerator. Most of the alcohol consumed was from a cooler that had been stolen from a Marion resident, Keyes said.
"Suspect admitted to not taking alcohol away from juveniles at the party," the report states. It does not identify the suspect.
The report lists the site of the party as 4 Fairway Drive, Marion, which is the residence of Doug Sharp, who is a member of the Marion-Florence Unified School District board of education. Sharp could not be reached for comment.
No charges have been filed. Robson said she has a conflict of interest, since she also is a school board member.
Sizemore will decide whether or not charges of furnishing alcohol to a minor and contributing to a child's misconduct are to be filed, Robson said.
Police officers said the investigation was slowed because that week they were in the midst of recovering a significant amount of stolen property, particularly several all-terrain vehicles."It's a matter of, if we don't get this property recovered, we may have lost the evidence and lost the case," said Michel Soyez, interim police chief. "We didn't drop the investigation, but it did go to the back burner for a little while."
