The missing drugs were police dog training aids.
March 27, 2019
The agreement calls for Strubel to forfeit his state certification as a police officer and spend 30 days in jail.
NEW PHILADELPHIA Former Sugarcreek police officer David M. Strubel accepted a plea deal Wednesday to resolve charges that he stole drugs from the State Highway Patrol.
Strubel, 33, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor theft charge before Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Judge Elizabeth Lehigh Thomakos, who found him guilty.
In exchange for the plea, the Tuscarawas County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed a charge of theft in office and reduced a charge of theft of drugs to the misdemeanor theft charge. The agreement calls for Strubel to forfeit his state certification as a police officer and spend 30 days in jail.
The theft charge carries a maximum punishment of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. The original indictment for two felonies carried a potential for 18 months in prison.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 8.
Strubel, of Bolivar, was seen on a police video recording going into locked areas he was not supposed to enter on Sept. 27.
The missing drugs were police dog training aids.
