Detective's deal stirs mixed reaction

FREMONT — Heather Bogle's loved ones aren't the only family devastated by former Sandusky County sheriff's detective Sean P. O'Connell and his corrupted practices as an investigator.O'Connell, 54, pleaded guilty July 30 to a felony tampering with evidence charge in the Bogle homicide investigation, in exchange for seven other charges related to his misconduct being dismissed. The other charges ranged from obstruction to coercion and falsification, all related to how he conducted himself during the investigation.When he's sentenced in September, the disgraced detective could get three years in state prison, or he could get probation. If he'd been convicted on all eight charges, O'Connell faced up to 12 years in prison. Some Bogle family members were in the courtroom when O'Connell pleaded out. They declined comment after the hearing ended. Josh Feasel, Heather's brother, who triggered O'Connell's demise with his harsh criticism of the detective early on, said he was disappointed in the deal O'Connell made. Other families who say they were victimized by O'Connell in other corrupted and botched investigations he conducted reacted to his plea deal in different ways — some with frustration, some with fury.Fight of his life"He'll probably do nine months. He got one charge … he needs a lot more than that," said Greg Armbruster, who claims O'Connell tried to frame him in a road rage incident in 2014, in which he was the victim.Nearly two years after he was arraigned, felony charges against Armbruster were dropped for lack of evidence after it was disclosed that 911 recordings of the desperate calls Armbruster made, in real time as his car was being slammed by the other driver, had been mysteriously destroyed."It cost me close to $100,000 having to retain an attorney," Armbruster said. "My house, my family were torn apart because of it. I spent 18 months fighting for my life because of (O'Connell.)"Justice, what justice? Keyona Bor's only real connection to Heather Bogle was she lived at the apartment complex where Bogle's car was found in its parking lot, Bogle's bludgeoned body inside the trunk on April 10, 2015. But she became a target for O'Connell almost immediately, and remained "a person of interest" during the entire 15 months O'Connell headed up the investigation. Keyona Bor visits the Register Tuesday afternoon to talk about her reaction to former Sandusky County sheriff's detective Sean O'Connell taking a plea deal. Bor was falsely accused of being involved in Heather Bogle's homicideThus began the worst nightmare of her life, one that cost her job and reputation, and continues to haunt her."Imagine you meet someone for the first time and the only thing you know about them is that they were a 'person of interest' in a murder," Bor told the Register during a segment of "Between the Lines" a day after O'Connell accepted the plea deal. "Everywhere I go this still follows me."The claim by O'Connell that she was involved spread like wildfire on the internet, and she was harassed, hounded and bullied by commenters at social media. The detective also harassed her, Bor said. He came up to her and taunted her about the investigation at a gas station and other places, and teased her about her children's father, a state inmate who claims O'Connell framed him. She was on the witness list for his trial, and called O'Connell's deal a "smack in the face from prosecutors."O'Connell has a long history of falsely accusing people, Bor contends, including Julian Kiser, a man with whom she shares three children. Kiser is serving a 10-year sentence in state prison on drug charges. O'Connell had confidential informants plant cocaine at his apartment, Kiser claims, and then raided his home in 2013."I feel like I've been betrayed by the legal system and hope that justice is brought to Sean O'Connell for all the wrongdoing he has brought to me and my family," Kiser wrote in a letter to the Register.O'Connell accused Kiser of murdering a man in the 1990s, but there was never any evidence and he never met or knew the person who was killed, Kiser said. The charges O'Connell pushed for were dismissed for lack of evidence, he said, but the detective remained determined to get him. Two other individuals were falsely accused by O'Connell of being involved in Heather Bogle's homicide but also were shown through a later investigation to have no association.That later investigation — started after O'Connell and his former best friend and boss, Sheriff Kyle Overmyer were both out at the sheriff's office — resulted in the arrest of a suspect. The new sheriff, Chris Hilton, elected in November 2016, arrested Daniel Myers on May 31, 2017, and charged with murdering Heather Bogle.Myers acted alone, according to investigators, and his trial is set to begin later this year. He could be sentenced to death if convicted, and he's also a suspect in another possible homicide. Read more: Women feared suspected killerNo closureEric Burdine and Shannon Limberios share several things in common: Both lost loved ones, whose cases were later purportedly botched — or not completed — by O'Connell.Limberios' son, Jacob, died of a single gunshot wound to the head on March 12, 2012, and deputies tainted evidence, failed to collect evidence and mishandled witnesses in the immediate aftermath of his death.The county coroner, John Wukie, also failed to conduct any investigation or order an autopsy, initially, but he ruled Jake's death an "accidental suicide," an uncommon cause to put on a death certificate that wasn't supported by forensic evidence or the circumstances. O'Connell initially told the Limberios family Jake's death a homicide, but he reversed himself with no explanation and said Jake was holding the gun when it fired. Jake's dad, Mike "Big Mike" Limberios, spent more than $100,000 and the rest of his life fighting the system that failed his son, fighting O'Connell and fighting Wukie. He was only 51 when he died suddenly in November 2014. The death certificate was never corrected. Jacob LimberiosShannon Limberios said her family never got justice, "not even a little bit.""The way (the investigation) was all handled made our lives more hellish than it ever should have been," she said. "Do we have any closure? I don't know that we do."She said she did appreciate a statement O'Connell made when he accepted the guilty plea last week, that he wanted to spare the victim's families a drawn-out trial."I don't want to be a vindictive person. I'm trying to work on forgiveness," she said.'Day of judgement'Eric Burdine's brother, Craig, died in the Sandusky County jail in 2007 after being repeatedly shocked with a Taser by deputies. O'Connell told the Burdine family he was investigating the death, but he later acknowledged in a sworn deposition he never did. "O'Connell never did anything," Burdine said. "He collected a paycheck but never did anything as far as police work."Burdine said he didn't think O'Connell's potential sentence was "enough" and slammed the entirety of Sandusky County's legal system."They do have a day of judgment coming to them … and O'Connell won't be alone," he said.Burdine's dad, Jess Burdine, spent the rest of his life — and more that $300,000 — fighting to get justice for his son. He claimed the investigators who covered up what really happened aided in the murder of his son. Jess Burdine died in May 2016 at the age of 82. Read: He fought the good fightFalsely accused, falsely imprisonedPatrick Baker Sr. has a pending lawsuit, demanding the state declare him a wrongfully imprisoned person under a state law designed to protect wrongfully convicted people.Baker, who never faced any criminal accusations his entire life previously, contends O'Connell came after him because he held a grudge from a traffic accident in which the two were involved, in which O'Connell was at fault. The former detective coached a witness, a man with a long-term drug problem and mental health issues, to name Baker as a co-conspirator in a burglary, according to Baker.He was convicted during trial inside county Judge John Dewey's courtroom that lasted less than an hour, and that included his sentencing. The conviction was overturned on appeal, citing the judge for missteps at trial. A special prosecutor later declined to refile charges against Baker, citing a lack of credible evidence.Former Sheriff Overmyer was sentenced to four years, on drug and theft charges, Baker said. Unlike O'Connell, Overmyer hurt himself more than anyone else. But O'Connell, Baker said, endangered the lives of others. "O'Connell left a murderer on the streets for almost two years," referring to his failure to conduct a credible search for Heather Bogle's killer. "In that time of neglect, he could have killed again."O'Connell will be sentenced Sept. 13 by visiting Judge Patricia Cosgrove, the same judge who handed down a four-year term for Overmyer.*View our Sean O'Connell hub for more storiesReach reporter Brandon Addeo at brandonaddeo@sanduskyregister.com, follow him on Twitter @BrandonAddeo and follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterSandusky Register managing editor Matt Westerhold contributed to this article. Former Sandusky County sheriff's detective Sean O'Connell pleads guilty to one count of felony tampering with evidence on Monday, July 30, 2018, at Sandusky County Common Pleas Court.Heather BoglePatrick Baker Sr. talks to managing editor Matt Westerhold during a segment of Between the Lines on Monday, July 3, 2017. Sandusky County Judge John Dewey signed a motion to dismiss the criminal case against Baker.Jess Burdine, with Mike "Big Mike" Limberios, entering the courthouse during grand jury hearings into his son's death in 2013. Shannon Limberios