May 7, 2021- 4:00 p.m.
WHITEHALL, OH — A former Pickaway County Corrections Deputy has been indicted on felony charges of impersonating an officer and improper handling of a firearm. Casey Donovan Williams, 26, of Ashville, was indicted by a Franklin County Grand Jury last week and has not yet entered a plea.
According to the personnel file from his last full-time law enforcement position, Williams has been investigated before. The recent indictment stems from an April 8 incident at the area of Collingwood Avenue and East Broad Street in Whitehall.
Williams allegedly presented himself as a deputy with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office who was working a special duty detail in Whitehall. Whitehall Police arrested the 26-year old Ashville native after learning there was no special duty assigned to the location and the badge Williams produced was fake.
In Williams’s vehicle, officers allegedly found a loaded AR-15-style rifle, a ballistic tactical vest, and a Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office coat. On the duty belt, officers allegedly found a loaded handgun with 15 rounds, a taser, two pairs of handcuffs, a flashlight, and pepper spray.
Williams was taken to Franklin County Correctional Facility and was released on his own recognizance. Williams’s personnel file from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office shows that he was a corrections deputy at the jail but resigned his full-time position on September 21, 2020, following an incident at the Pickaway County Fair.
On June 22, 2020, Williams allegedly portrayed himself as an on-duty Pickaway County Sheriff’s Deputy at the fair, even though he was not scheduled to work at the time. Williams was allegedly carrying a badge and monitoring the campgrounds for alcohol, although he told a lieutenant, “I wasn’t trying to act like an undercover deputy.”
According to the investigator’s report, “Casey Williams on his own time overreached what his authority was at the Pickaway County Fair. To have a commission as a Deputy Sheriff in the Corrections Division is a privilege. Casey abused his privilege and I feel it would be negligent retention to allow him to carry his commission at this time.” Despite the recommendation, the personnel file does not indicate that Williams was terminated.
