Former Delaware County Sheriff Al Myers said he is praying for a former interim sheriff who is now facing federal child pornography charges — despite their history.
Mark W. Wolfe was only Delaware County’s sheriff for five days in 2007 when he alleged — ironically — that Myers had been in possession of child pornography. The allegation was quickly dropped.
Myers said that he knows very little about allegations being brought against Wolfe, 50, of 11720 Kilbourne Road, Sunbury, who replaced Myers as sheriff for five days in June 2007, but said that he will continue to pray for him.
“I forgave him years ago,” Myers said.
When Myers stepped down in 2007 after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor ethics charges, Wolfe was appointed as interim sheriff by Delaware County commissioners on May 31, 2007. Wolfe made headlines during his brief tenure as sheriff when he accused Myers of illegally possessing child pornography on the sheriff’s computer.
This allegation was dismissed when paperwork revealed the pornography on the computer was obtained during and related to a sheriff’s office investigation.
Officials from the sheriff’s office said Wolfe was interim sheriff for five days before the Republican Party central committee appointed Walter Davis as sheriff.
Myers, a 27-year-veteran of the sheriff’s office at the time, later sued the county for defamation of character and settled the lawsuit in 2010.
At the time, Myers called the situation a “political game.”
Wolfe surrendered himself to U.S. marshals in Columbus on Monday and appeared in by U.S. Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King.
The criminal complaint, filed by FBI investigators, alleges that between Sept. 1, 2010, and July 28, 2015, Wolfe received and distributed videos and pictures of minors engaged in sexually explicit activity.
Undercover agents from the FBI were conducting an investigation into online child pornography and on June 5 downloaded several pornographic videos involving children from an IP address in Sunbury.
Upon investigation with Time Warner Cable, the IP address was determined to be registered to Wolfe at his home.
Investigators executed a search warrant of Wolfe’s home on July 31 and seized a laptop computer belonging to Wolfe. Investigators say a preliminary examination of the laptop yielded 486 videos and 203 images of child pornography.
Analysis of the laptop also revealed chat messages between Wolfe and several others between September 2014 and June 2015. Investigators say pornographic files were transferred during the chats.
Investigators say Wolfe stated in the messages that he had engaged in sex with a 13-year-old girl who was a friend of his daughter.
Wolfe also told an individual that he touched his children when they were around 2 years old and that he would be willing to show others his children if they would show him their children. Investigators say that Wolfe has two sons under the age of 10 and a toddler-age daughter.
Wolfe appeared in federal court in Columbus Monday afternoon and will appear for a detention hearing on Thursday.
Officials say that Wolfe served as a deputy in the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office from August 1994 to September 1997 and has had no association with the sheriff’s office since his removal in 2007. Wolfe ran for sheriff in Delaware County in 2000 and 2004.
Wolfe has reportedly worked for various law enforcement agencies throughout central Ohio. The Associated Press reported he had been police chief in Edison in Morrow County. Wolfe is currently the founder and president of AREA Security & Consulting.
