government buerocrats refuse to admit they f*cked up Original Article Man settles suit after imprisonment Authorities held wrong suspect for 9 days By Nancy Bowman Dayton Daily News TROY | A Darke County man sat in the Miami County Jail for nine days in December after being arrested on a warrant for felony forgery charges filed against the wrong person. Richard Gilroy will receive $2,500 in compensation from Miami County, whose commissioners agreed June 14 to settle legal claims out of court while denying any liability by the sheriff's office or the county. Gilroy was arrested in early December in Darke County on the warrant on three forgery charges filed by Troy police in 2002. He was brought to the county jail where he told jail officers he couldn't be the accused because he was incarcerated in Tennessee at the time of the Feb. 20, 2002, offenses, said his lawyer, Dennis Lieberman. "They told him to, 'Tell it to the judge,' " Lieberman said. Bail was set at $30,000, 10 percent cash. Gilroy couldn't pay, so he sat in jail. While there, Gilroy repeatedly asked people at the jail to call his parole officer to confirm his whereabouts in February 2002, but that wasn't done, Lieberman said. At the Municipal Court preliminary hearing before Judge Elizabeth Gutmann, Gilroy got to tell his story. The judge asked the police detective to check, and Gilroy was released the following day, Dec. 14, when his claim was confirmed. Lieberman said Gilroy missed one week of work, was placed in jeopardy of having his parole revoked and his young son was placed in emotional distress, fearing his dad would go back to prison. The commissioners met in a closed session with Mark Altier, an assistant county prosecutor, before voting unanimously to settle. He said the commissioners and sheriff were reluctant to settle, but saw payment as the most economical way to deal with the matter. "We do not feel the sheriff's office, the county are liable. ... If there was fault, it may lay elsewhere," Altier said. Altier said Gilroy's basic claim was that someone should have listened to him sooner. "I understand. If I were in jail one week, I'd be frustrated too," Altier said. Troy police Capt. Joe Long said Gilroy was charged in the case involving forged checks to businesses because of factors including a license plate number in his name and a witness in the case identifying him from a photo as a potential suspect. Police later found Gilroy had sold the truck, but the plates were left on it, Long said. The forgery case remains open, he said.