Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Julia Bates reports that on December 3, Robert Austin, a former Sylvania Township police lieutenant, pleaded guilty in CR202500647 to an amended charge of fifth-degree grand theft and agreed to pay $69,698.48 in restitution. As part of the plea, the State of Ohio agreed to dismiss the charges in CR2025-00232.
Between January 1, 2016, and May 1, 2023, Austin claimed a spouse on his Sylvania Township-sponsored benefits plan while still married to someone else. He married his first spouse in Kentucky in 2004 and married a second spouse in Nevada in 2014. His second spouse received the Sylvania Township insurance benefits. Austin’s actions resulted in Sylvania Township paying benefits it would not have provided had it known he remained legally married to someone else.
“We are pleased with this agreement as Mr. Austin agreed to repay in full the taxpayers of Sylvania Township,” Prosecutor Bates said. “The citizens of Sylvania Township are the victims in this case and the work done by our team and by investigators from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation show that the State of Ohio will not tolerate theft while in office.”…