Pickaway County Sheriff Matthew Hafey blames a background check paperwork error as to how a non-certified law enforcement officer was hired as a deputy for four months.
Hafey said the matter has been corrected, procedures have been put in place to prevent this from happening again and he takes full responsibility for what happened.
Mitchel Reffett was commissioned by the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office between January 21 and May 29 as a deputy sheriff when his employment ended.
According to the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy, Reffett has not been a certified law enforcement officer since December 31, 2022. His certification was placed in a cease-function status on December 31, 2022 to the present day.
When the Herald reached out to Hafey with questions about the matter, he responded quickly with full transparency by saying because Reffett’s paperwork to the state was not submitted in a timely manner, PCSO did not know Reffett was not certified to serve until May — four months after he had been hired.
“When a deputy sheriff is hired, we submit a form to the state advising them he has received a commission (SF-400),” Hafey said. “Once the form is received by the state, we receive confirmation that the deputy is either in a function or cease function status. They will also advise if the deputy is in a function status, but needs to complete certain hours of training by a deadline date to stay current. In Reffett’s case, the person responsible for submitting the paperwork to the state failed to do so and it was not discovered until May 29, 2024.”
Hafey continued, “Upon sending the SF-400 to the state, we were informed that he was in a cease function status. He had failed to complete the 2022 required CPT’s (Continual Professional Training AKA — CEU’s). He was notified of this by OPOTA via email to his personal email in February 2023.”
See the attached photo(s) regarding Reffett that are included with the online version of this story.
Hafey said during the hiring process, Reffett never conveyed that he was not certified.
“He left Vinton County Sheriff’s Office very shortly after that and did not obtain another law enforcement position until applying with us,” Hafey said. “This lack of certification was never conveyed to us during the hiring process.”
When Hafey was asked how Reffett’s status might affect any arrests or citations issued, he said there were no cases that went to trial from either charges he had filed or where he was a witness.
“As for any charges or citations in which Reffett was involved, we have worked with the county Prosecutor and City Law Director to resolve this,” he said. “Any of the pending charges or citations were dismissed. There were no cases that went to trial from either charges he had filed or where he was a witness. Any remaining cases were completed by the defendant waiving their right to a trial and pleading guilty.”
PCSO has taken proactive steps to ensure that prospective employees are in good standing before they are hired.
“Since this incident we have implemented steps in the hiring process to ensure any prospective employees are in good standing with OPOTA before hiring them,” Hafey said. “The employee responsible for sending the information to the state has already been disciplined.”
Hafey said he takes responsibility for what happened and that he will continue to strive to do things better.
“Although I was unaware of this until May, I am accountable for the operations of this office and I accept full responsibility for this,” he said. “I do apologize to the citizens of Pickaway County for this incident and want them to know that I continually strive to do things correctly to keep them safe.”
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