Disgraced public workers cash in on pension system

It happens again and again: A public worker gets in trouble, then wins a disability retirement.

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Updated 7:16 AM Sunday, June 12, 2011

Ohio’s multibillion dollar public employee pension system is so open to abuse it has allowed people to retire on lucrative disability pensions after committing crimes in office and while being terminated for misconduct on the job.

A six-month Cox Media Group Ohio examination found large percentages of employees in some local jurisdictions retired on disability, including nearly half of Dayton police officers and firefighters who retired between 2000 and 2010, and nearly 33 percent of Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies.

In Clark County, public records requests by the Springfield News-Sun revealed that two sheriff’s deputies received disability pensions after Sheriff Gene Kelly terminated them.

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